Mar 30, 2009 12:38 PM
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Tue Feb 9
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John Cornyn will throw a fit if Al Franken is seated before Norm Coleman's exhausted every possible legal recourse. And that could take years! According to Politico! And they never exaggerate!
See, Harry Reid "pledged" back in February to have Franken seated by April 1. Well, that deadline will probably come and go without anyone being seated, as who knows when the three-judge panel will finally rule on Coleman's challenge (supposedly any day now).
Norm Coleman's attorney admitted that Norm will probably lose this round to Franken, but then he'll appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, even though that's a terrible idea that will kill his political career for good.
Still, Franken promised this weekend that he'd win, and seemed convinced the case would go to the Minnesota Supreme Court and confident that he'd prevail.
Now John Cornyn has led the rallying cry for a filibuster or something if the Dems try to seat Franken before he gets his certificate. And he can't get his certificate until after the state courts have decided everything. Which means after Norm's appeal to the MN Supreme Court. At that point, should Coleman lose, the election results can be certified. And they probably will be certified, because a) Coleman has no public support to drag this out indefinitely, and b) Governor Pawlenty wouldn't want to be dragged into this (he's been cagey so far) by looking like he's denying Minnesota a vote in the Senate for partisan purposes.
So an appeal to the federal courts probably won't happen, and even if it does, there's a good chance Franken will still be seated while that appeal plays out.
And this is how Politico reported this BREAKING NEWS:
Texas Sen. John Cornyn is threatening "World War III" if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts.
Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledges that a federal challenge to November's elections could take "years" to resolve. But he's adamant that Coleman deserves that chance - even if it means Minnesota is short a senator for the duration.
The source for the "years" quote is an off-the-cuff statement Cornyn made last week about how "Appeals take months, if not years, sometimes." Sometimes! The source for the "World War III" quote? Unknown!
But hey, they got their Drudge link for exaggerating and repackaging (and possibly just making up!) old news. World War III!
Send an email to Alex Pareene, the author of this post, at alexp@gawker.com.
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