Franken Loses Court Effort to Dismiss Coleman

The "mouth that roared" will have to defend his ill gotten victory in court!

Al Franken's effort to block Norm Coleman's lawsuit over the U.S. Senate recount was rejected Thursday by a three-judge panel, setting the stage for a trial to begin Monday on the Republican's claims.

State election law doesn't undermine the Senate's constitutional power to later judge the qualifications of its members, the judges said in denying Franken's request to dismiss the election contest, as the lawsuit is called.

The panel also rejected Franken's attempt to limit any court review to verifying math and other technicalities of the recount and canvass, clearing the way for the judges to consider Coleman claims that some votes in Democratic areas were counted twice, that some absentee ballots from GOP areas were wrongly rejected and that there were other irregularities.

Harry Reid may have to wait awhile before he tries to bulldoze Franken into the the Minnesota Senate seat.

Franken had argued that state law and the U.S. Constitution sharply restricted any lawsuit over the results of a U.S. Senate election. But the panel disagreed, saying a court's review of an election "is not limited to the purely ministerial task of ensuring that the tallies from the canvassing board are fee from mathematical error."

Yep! That's the fine sort of legal mind we want writing our laws, keeping the chicanery from public scrutiny or judicial review!

Hat tip Hot Air
Cross posted at Say Anything