Source: Reportedly unanimous U.S. Senate election-Supreme Court decision under “gang edit” now

[kpete]

Source: Reportedly unanimous U.S. Senate election Supreme Court decision under “gang edit” now
Posted 4:54 pm, June 18th, 2009 by Dan Feidt

While our sources on the impending Minnesota Supreme Court ruling on the U.S. Senate election contest were impeccable, our latest intelligence points to a decision sometime next week.

Here’s what we picked up from sources inside the Minnesota Judicial Center: The opinion will be unanimous; the opinion is overly long and is being edited, circulated, re-edited, circulated,etc.; and that there’s nothing worse than a Minnesota Supreme Court "gang edit."

Oh, and one other thing, the Minnesota Supremes' law clerks look tense and miserable in the Judicial Center's cafeteria each day. They bear the brunt of a gang edit.

http://www.politicsinminnesota.com/2009/jun18/3347/source-unanimous-u-s-senate-election-supreme-court-decision-under-%E2%80%9Cgang-edit%E2%80%9D-now

[saltpoint]

1. Are there any hunches on an outcome?

[MineralMan]

3. No question. Franken wins.

I don't think there's any doubt, given the tone of questions from the justices during the oral arguments.

I wish they'd make an interim ruling, though, with opinions to follow. That way, Franken could be seated.

[saltpoint]

4. I will take your call there as encouragement long-delayed and

warmly welcomed.

Never liked Coleman to start with and feel that Al's been duly cheated.

[MineralMan]

2. Annoying...but necessary.

This opinion needs to be right. It will set a precedent in MN, and perhaps in other places. Still, it's frustrating not to have a resolution to this election.

[liberal N proud]

5. Could the long opinion be in lieu of a possible appeal to the SCOTUS?

[MineralMan]

8. No. I'm sure they're trying to write a SCOTUS-proof

opinion, though. That may not stop an appeal to the SCOTUS, but, as far as the issue of the state election goes, this should be the final stop. Once this opinion is rendered, the Senate should seat Franken, election certificate or not.

Senate elections are a state issue, not a federal one, so this should end the delay. The GOOPers can appeal it to the SCOTUS, no doubt, but that's another issue. I doubt the SCOTUS would hear it, anyhow, but the Senate can move ahead with this decision, and will, I predict.

[imdjh]

6. I often think that high courts drag it out to make it seem more important.

After all, if they just did their work in a timely fashion, we might come to the conclusion that anyone with common sense and a law clerk could bang out just decisions as if they were being paid to do so. So they drag it out, so that we peasants will imagine the august judges, draped in black like a funeral for a grand piano, staring into the depths of their superior minds.

Just write the fucking opinion. This isn't rocket science.

[MineralMan]

9. Have you ever read a major Supreme Court opinion?

They are not simple...ever. There will be citations of other cases, and very, very carefully-worded prose. It's the nature of such opinions, since they will be studied for decades and used as precedents.

Go read some, and you'll see what I mean. Since this is widely thought to be a unanimouos decision, the wording is even more difficult. There will be much nuancing going on to produce an opinion that all members can simply endorse.

Other things that will be considered include the possibility that this will be appealed to the SCOTUS, so the language in the opinion is likely to determine whether the SCOTUS hears the case or not.

Like you, I'd like the opinion to read: "Franken won. Get over it." I also know such a think could never happen.

[imdjh]

10. And yet, with all that detail, they manage to not communicate effectively, to anyone.

Take Heller. They went into all that detail, the Chicago city attorney studies it for five minutes and says, "Doesn't apply to us."

You're not going to convince me that this is the right way to do things. Nuance my ass. Prose my ass. Lay it down in simple terms that an idiot can understand, because those who look for loopholes need it expressed in simple terms. Otherwise, if you say, "Clearly when the City of Peepot refused to admit gay couples to the couple unit of the hurricane shelter..." then some jackass is going to say, "See, it only applies during hurricanes."

[MineralMan]

12. I'm not trying to convince you of anything.

I'm just saying why things are as they are. I didn't invent the system, nor do I have any influence on anyone who might change it.

Someone asked...I answered. No need to reference your ass. I described how Supreme Court opinions are done. That's all.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. You couldn't be more wrong.

I clerked for the Minnesota Supreme Court many years ago, and you can't imagine the volume of work. They decide more than one case at a time -- many cases, actually -- and do a lot of other work that doesn't get much publicity. We worked our butts off; it sure as hell wasn't a 9-to-5 job for the justices or for their clerks. I and some of the others even pulled all-nighters to get research done or opinions drafted. There's a whole lot more to it than sitting around and cogitating. Just for starters, you have to read the district court files, all of the briefs, look up and analyze every single case cited in every brief, research other opinions to determine whether the citations are valid and whether the law applies. It can take weeks just to read through some court files. I can assure you the judges and their clerks aren't sitting on a veranda drinking mai-tais.

But it's easy to throw stones when you don't know a damn thing about the process, isn't it?

[MineralMan]

13. I think it's just people's frustration about this whole thing.

There have been so many threads from people outside of MN...all complaining about this election and the process of getting it finished. Usually, people who don't know what happened or why get angry and out of shape over the time this is taking.

From forgetting just how close this was in November and forgetting that Coleman had the lead after the initial count, to not understanding how our judicial system operates, there has been much confusion here.

I've tried explaining the process and why it's taking so long. Generally, what I get is anger directed at me for explaining.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the court. I learned quite a bit from your post.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. Right! And yet it's the people of Minnesota who are getting the shaft

by having only one Senator. A lot of people from other states have been bitching about OUR process without knowing anything about it. MN has had the highest voter turnout rate in the country, same-day registration, a reasonable election review process and a generally fair, even-handed court system. Coleman has done his best to abuse that system, but the BS is about to come to an end. The system isn't perfect but it works pretty well. And people who have no clue what's going on need to stop shooting the messengers and STFU.

[MineralMan]

15. Well, Franken's seating certainly has national impacts, too.

But...the timing isn't really that critical. He'll be in the Senate soon.

We had a difficult election, one decided by just a few hundred votes. That has to be handled carefully, but it's hard for people who aren't closely following it to understand just how close the election was.

Of course, part of the blame goes to Franken, himself. While working through the campaign period, it became clear to me that not enough effort was made to link Franken closely with Obama. That led to a large number of new voters, many of whom registered at the polling place, voting only for Obama and skipping the Senate race altogether.

Had just a few per cent of those new voters also cast a vote for Franken, the election would have been over on election night. I spoke to Franken campaign leaders, and once even to Franken, himself, about this during the campaign, but was ignored. They couldn't believe that people would go to the polls and vote only for Obama.

Then, on election day, in my polling place, which is a precinct that has a wildly-mixed ethnic makeup, I watched as voter after voter registered at the polling place, then took their ballot into the booth and emerged afer ten seconds and put the ballot in the scanning machine. Clearly, they had voted for Obama and left the rest of the ballot blank.

Thank goodness Franken is winning, despite this, but it all could have been so easily avoided.

[leveymg]

7. Gang edit? Be gentle as you split the infinitives, and KY will help parse the inflections.

My bad. }(