"Done" Sounds Like A Good Idea

Joe Friedberg, the attorney for Norm Coleman in his battle to keep the 59th Democratic seat out of the US Senate admits defeat:

Q. Joe, are you done?

A. Yes, I'm done.

Q. Let me ask you in a different way. Is Norm done?

A. Well, I think that we have been trying this case with the appeal record in mind, and that's where we're going, and it's going to be a very quick appeal, and then I will know whether or not it worked.

Q. Well, when you say quick appeal, are you confident that you are going to lose the case in front of the three-judge panel? By losing the case, I mean Norm ends up with less votes.

A. I think that's probably correct that Franken will still be ahead and probably by a little bit more. But our whole argument was that it was a constitutional argument, and it's an argument suitable for the Minnesota Supreme Court, not for the trial court. So we will see whether we were right or not.

Actually their whole argument was not an argument, but a way to obstruct Al Franken's seating for as long as possible. Our deliberative judicial process allows such obstruction, but let's not kid ourselves about arguments being suitable for one court and not another. Slowly working through the process was the whole point.

So, months after the election, and several weeks after the Supreme Court trial, Coleman's own lawyer admits that his client will wind up in worse shape than before, and that he was arguing to the wrong court this whole time to intentionally set up an appeal. Since the loser pays in Minnesota courts, at least Coleman will get his money's worth on Al Franken's lawyer. Of course, while Friedberg failed in court, he did his actual job well - it's almost April and Minnesota continues to have one US Senator.