Al Versus Norm, Part 503

Minnesota's Supreme Court has shot down the effort to seat Al Franken provisionally, but left a hole large enough to drive a truck through.

The Minnesota Supreme Court today ruled that Al Franken was not entitled to be certified winner of the U.S. Senate election pending the outcome of a trial challenging his 225-vote recount lead.

The court said state law says a certificate of election cannot be issued until the state courts have finally decided an election. The court also said federal law did not require states to certify senators by the time a new term begins in January. Moreover, it said the U.S. Senate could always seat Franken even without a certification.

It's seating Franken without certification that's the catch. The GOP will go absolutely berserk should the Democrats try this, and I'd actually agree with them. Like it or not, Franken has to be certified as the winner, or the Democrats are walking into a massive trap that will delegitimize everything Franken touches, especially after Blago and Burris.

Even Harry Reid can see that disaster coming from a mile away, and speaking of Burris, he has his own batch of problems.