We all got a jolt this morning over the widespread speculation that the Minnesota Supreme Court was going to announce a decision regarding the still-inconclusive Senate race between Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D).

It may have been premature. Or not. Here's a very good read from The Plum Line, a blog by Greg Sargent:

The rumor out of Minnesota is that the Supreme Court is going to hand down a decision on the Norm Coleman-Al Franken mess today, which would be a huge deal.


But I just spoke with a spokesperson for the Minnesota Supreme Court, and she told me that no notification has gone out to either side that a decision is coming. That makes it less likely, though not impossible, that the court is ruling today.

The basis for the rumor is a local blog posting that claimed that a decision was coming today, according to "two sources on different sides of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race recount scene."

According to Minnesota Supreme Court spokesperson Lissa Finne, there are two ways the court indicates a decision. Either it notifies counsel on both sides early in the week that a decision is coming on Thursday, or, in time sensitive cases, notification goes out right before a decision is released.

Finne tells me that no notification has gone out from the court to counsel on either side, which makes it unclear how it is that the blog's sources would have heard this. "I don't know where they got that from," Finne says.

That said, it's still possible that the court will issue sudden notification that a ruling is coming. But if this is going to happen, there's no way anyone would know about it. At any rate, stay tuned.

categories: Washington Senators

2:52 - June 18, 2009

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