Get the Al Franken Show on the road

The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments today in Coleman vs. Franken, Norm Coleman's challenge to the 2008 U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. If, as expected, the court rejects Coleman's challenge and confirms Al Franken as the winner, the U.S. Senate should be ready to seat Franken provisionally, even if Coleman vows further legal action and even if the state's governor refuses to sign Franken's election certificate.

The Senate race in Minnesota was exceedingly close, and Franken was exceedingly lucky. When Coleman was initially ahead the day after the election by 206 votes, he called on Franken to concede. Franken refused, pointing to an automatic recount triggered under state law by the razor-thin outcome. After a lengthy recount of ballots, including a detailed examination of disputed ballots by a canvassing commission, Franken was declared the winner by 225 votes.

At that point, Coleman refused to concede, contesting the election in a trial court made up of judges appointed by a Democrat, a Republican and an independent. The court, after considering 142 witnesses, 1,717 exhibits and 19,181 pages of filings, declared Franken ahead by 312 votes. It unanimously rejected Coleman's case.

Coleman's appeal now sits before the Minnesota Supreme Court. Although he has raised some state law issues, his main arguments are federal constitutional ones. He argues that the state violated his equal-protection rights when some counties allegedly used lax standards compared with others in deciding which absentee ballots to count. He also argues that the trial court violated his due process rights by allegedly changing the standards for deciding which absentee ballots to count once the election contest began.

To correct these problems, Coleman is asking for the Minnesota high court to send the case back to the trial court for a ruling to allow another few thousand absentee ballots to be counted under the alleged lax standards.

Coleman's constitutional arguments are getting a fair hearing before the Minnesota Supreme Court. State courts are fully empowered -- and constitutionally obligated -- to consider a litigant's federal constitutional claims. Three of the five justices hearing the case have Republican Party backgrounds, and one was appointed by independent Gov. Jesse Ventura. This is not a court stacked with partisans against Coleman.