More appeals in Senate trial could delay election certificate
Politico is reporting that GOP Sen. Norm Coleman met with GOP leadership in the Senate and with RNC Chair Michael Steele this week. He also wouldn't rule out any further legal challenges:
"I'm not ruling it in or ruling it out, let's see what the court does and hopefully they'll do the right thing," Coleman said.
If Coleman does lose and appeals to a higher court, there are some questions as to when the election certificate should be issued. Gov. Pawlenty tells MPR that he may be forced to wait until any appeals on the state and federal level are exhausted.
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The Deputy Secretary of State and a few legal scholars believe the law says the election certificate should be issued after the Minnesota Supreme Court weighs in on the election contest (for non-recount hawks, that's one step after the current trial observed by the three judge panel).
Here's my interview with Pawlenty on when he thinks it's appropriate to issue the election certificate:
One side note, The Minnesota Supreme Court could clear up some of the confusion over an election certificate rather quickly.
The court is currently considering a motion by Al Franken to require the governor and the secretary of state to issue and sign an election certificate declaring Franken the winner. The court could approve Franken's motion or even provide some direction on when the election certificate should be issued. So far there's been no indication of what the court might do.