Law professor: If high court rejects Coleman argument, Senate should seat Franken

Loyola law professor Rick Hasen pens an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times this morning arguing that Al Franken should be provisionally seated in the U.S. Senate if Norm Coleman’s appeal to the state Supreme Court is rejected. Even if Coleman takes his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, Hasen says the Senate shouldn’t wait to seat Franken.

“There’s no argument that Coleman could make in a new federal lawsuit that he can’t make in the current litigation,” he writes. “The only reason for a new federal lawsuit would be to delay the Democrats’ ability to obtain a 60th vote — a potentially filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Even if Pawlenty chooses not to sign the certificate of election, the Senate, as the constitutionally authorized arbiter of disputed Senate elections, should declare Franken the provisional winner.”

He concludes his piece:

With Coleman facing such long odds at that point, there would be no reason to deny the people of Minnesota half of their Senate representation for another three or more months.

Hasen is liveblogging today’s oral arguments.