Will Al Franken get to vote for Sotomayor?

[Iosif]

I think he will.

[Keystone Phil]

No. Only people elected to the U.S. Senate get to vote on these nominations.

[Lunar]

He will be seated before the final vote most likely, so yes.

It depends all on whether the MN Supreme Court demands that TPaw issue a certification

[Franzl]

No. Only people elected to the U.S. Senate get to vote on these nominations.

Please don't tell me you're in that camp...Phil....

[Keystone Phil]

No. Only people elected to the U.S. Senate get to vote on these nominations.

Please don't tell me you're in that camp...Phil....

Huh? Should Rick Santorum be able to vote on nominations before the U.S. Senate just because he lost a close race?








Ok, ok. No, I'm not in "that camp." I just wanted to see how long this could go but I figured this post would set off a very ugly flame war.

[minionofmidas]

No. Only people elected to the U.S. Senate and then personally cleared by John Cornyn get to vote on these nominations.

[Magic 8-Ball]

No.  We'll have to wait another seven months to find out who won.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Souter isn't resigning until October right? In that case most likely. The State Supreme Court hearings began today.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

He'll be in by September, so yes.

Souter isn't resigning until October right?

June, actually.  Right after the term ends.

[ChrisJG777]

Hmm, I think the phrase "Don't get your hopes up" is appropriate here.  Whilst I do ultimately believe that Franken will (only just) get seated, I also have faith in Norm Coleman finding another way to hold up the proceedings somehow. 

For now, I'm not voting in the poll just yet.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

After the State Supreme Court rules, I can see only two ways to delay it further from Coleman's camp. First is a federal lawsuit. Coleman's attorneys would have to argue that Minnesota law for holding elections is either:

1-Unconstiutional or
2-In violation of a federal law like the Voting Rights Act.

The former is too much of a stretch even for Coleman (though I wish J. J still posted more now, he'd probably be able to come up with some BS argument), so he'd have to try #2. Even that's tough, the only real thing he could try is the old standby, un-uniform standards or whatever. Even that would be tough considering how lax Minnesota election law is, the only real thing he could argue is the committee that reviewed the challenged ballots didn't do so fairly, although that's tough to convince anyone of, he could probably cherry-pick some ballots to show a Franken bias, but Franken's team could do the same in reverse and prove that ultimately, there was no bias. I have a tough time seeing a federal court even agreeing to hear such an argument.

The second scenario is if Pawlenty refuses to certify the election. If that happens, Franken could no doubt sue to force him to, and would no doubt win. The problem is that that would occupy more time, hence the point. Still, is Pawlenty willing to throw away his career to delay Franken another 2 months or so?

[Lunar]

"generic BS delaying" argument will do.

But yes, there is almost no new arguments for him to go for on the federal level

[Landslide Lyndon]

Presumably the Minnesota Supreme Court will issue along with its decision an order which will compel Pawlenty to sign the certificate. Then Coleman will ask the federal courts to issue an injunction to stop this procedure.

Things will become interesting if Pawlenty refuses to sign. According to electoralvote.com, the Minnesota House can begin impeachment proceedings. The governor will then be tried at the Minnesota Senate, where the DFL has the requisite 2/3 majority to convict and remove him (46-21).

[Bacon King]

Would they impeach him over this, though?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Would they impeach him over this, though?

I think refusing to comply with your state's Supreme Court qualifies as an impeachable offense.

[ChrisJG777]

...

Well, whatever the case may be I'm not going to hold my breath just yet...