The Senate’s top Republican is urging Norm Coleman to keep fighting. Politico reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says his fellow Republican shouldn’t halt his legal case until "we know who won":
"This could end up in federal court based on the allegations of the Coleman campaign that there has not been a consistent manner of counting votes county by county,” McConnell said. “I don’t know where this ends.”
Asked if he would encourage Coleman to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, McConnell said, “I would until we know who won." …
If Coleman loses, he may appeal his case to the state Supreme Court. Coleman also may consider filing an appeal with a federal appeals court and taking the challenge all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, a process that could take months. Democrats have accused Coleman of employing dilatory tactics to ensure the seat stays vacant and preventthem from getting their 59th seat.
“It’s not up to me, but I, like most Minnesotans, want to know who won the election,” McConnell said. “And it appears to me we don’t know that yet. I assume Sen. Coleman will pursue all opportunities to try to get an accurate count.”
McConnell said that Coleman’s team seems to have been laying the groundwork for a federal appeals challenge by citing the 2000 Supreme Court case in Bush v. Gore, which ended the Florida recount. McConnell argued that the equal protection clause of the Constitution ensures that each county should use similar standards in counting its ballots, which the Coleman campaign asserts was not done in Minnesota.
“We all remember Bush v. Gore,” McConnell said.
Franken rested his case on Thursday, and a decision from the three-judge state panel hearing the trial is expected by the end of the month.
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