3 Judge Panel Declares Franken Winner

A three-judge panel declared Al Franken the winner in the Minnesota Senate race Monday night, moving the former “Saturday Night Live” star one step closer to becoming the 59th Democrat in the Senate.

The unanimous ruling declared Franken the winner by 312 votes; Republican Norm Coleman has 10 days to seek review from the Minnesota Supreme Court.

“Franken received the highest number of lawfully cast ballots in the Nov. 4, 2008, general election for United States senator for the State of Minnesota and is entitled to receive the certificate of election,” the court said.

The ruling, though widely expected, will almost certainly prompt Democrats to put new pressure on Coleman to give up his case. But the Republican has argued that the court erred in its determination that thousands of absentee ballots were not properly counted. But Coleman’s arguments throughout the seven-week trial have nearly uniformly been rejected, and legal observers say he has an uphill climb before the state Supreme Court.

The state Supreme Court’s decision could turn on a number of areas. If it doesn’t affirm the ruling, it could find an error in the three-judge panel’s decision and send the case back down to a lower court to count more ballots or it could essentially declare Coleman the winner.

But if Coleman loses before the state Supreme Court, he’ll have a choice — either give up, petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the matter or wage a new lawsuit in a federal district court. Such a move could delay the seating of a new senator for months if Gov. Tim Pawlenty refuses to sign an election certificate. So far, Pawlenty has not given a clear indication if he’d sign an election certificate if Coleman were to appeal his case in the federal courts.

The seat will remain vacant at least until the state Supreme Court considers the matter, and a ruling there probably won’t come down until the end of May at the earliest, legal experts say.