Republican Norm Coleman’s legal team on Monday faced a skeptical audience of five Minnesota Supreme Court justices, who could be his last lifeline to prevent Democrat Al Franken from being seated as the state’s junior senator.
During the one-hour proceeding, the five justices peppered Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg with pointed questions on whether the campaign had provided enough evidence to prove that Coleman would have won the election if additional absentee ballots were included.
Justice Christopher Dietzen, an appointee of Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty who is considered to be the court’s most conservative judge, said during the hearing that Coleman’s argument was filled with “legal theory” but had “no concrete evidence to back it up.” ...
... “You’ve got a state Supreme Court with more Republicans than Democrats. If there’s going to be any kind of hope for Coleman, you’d expect that to come from the Republican-appointed justices,” said election law expert Rick Hasen. “So it’s pretty notable that all three of the Republican appointees were critical of the kinds of arguments that Coleman’s camp made.”
