Franken asks court to expedite process on Coleman appeal

Al Franken has asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to hear Norm Coleman's challenge of the recent Senate election trial as quickly as possible.

A day after Republican Coleman appealed the April 13 trial decision declaring Franken the winner by 312 votes, lawyers for the DFLer proposed Tuesday that the Supreme Court hear oral arguments in as soon as two weeks.

"Because of the important public policy concern of ensuring that the interests of the citizens of Minnesota are properly represented in Congress, this appeal should be expedited," Franken lawyer David Lillehaug said in a motion to the court.

Said Coleman spokesman Tom Erickson: "We're happy to do whatever the court ultimately sets as its schedule. ... If the court decides those are great deadlines, we'll do everything in our power to meet them."

The Franken motion noted that state law puts election contests on a fast track, requiring the high court to clear its calendar for such an appeal.

In recent interviews, Coleman said that he favored a speedy process and that his lawyers were working overtime on his brief, a detailed document explaining his case.

Coleman lawyer James Langdon said Monday that he expected oral arguments to occur sometime between early May and late June.

Lillehaug noted in the motion that the Supreme Court has had a history of quickly addressing matters in this election.

The high court issued rulings on Coleman's petitions regarding absentee ballots and duplicate ballots within six and five days, respectively. Although the court took longer to turn down Franken's request for a provisional election certificate, it adopted an expedited briefing schedule in that matter, Lillehaug said.

Debate continues

Also Tuesday, state DFL Chair Brian Melendez released a second video calling on Coleman to concede the election. The video, part of the DFL's "Give It Up Norm" campaign, reprises several Coleman statements at different stages of the recount.

Nearly 7,500 people have signed the DFL's online petition urging Coleman to quit, and 5,600 have joined the "Give It Up Norm" group on Facebook, Melendez said.

But Melendez also said he would hold his fire if Coleman agreed to abide by the state Supreme Court's decision and not pursue his case in federal court. If Coleman won in the state Supreme Court, he said, he would "privately" urge the same of Franken. "I guess that's not private anymore," he said, smiling.

Gina Countryman, a spokeswoman for the state Republican Party, declined to say how many people had signed the GOP's online petition urging Coleman to keep fighting.

"The number that matters in this whole scenario is the number of voters that remain disenfranchised," she said.