The court also set dates and deadlines for Norm Coleman’s appeal of an election-contest court decision that Al Franken won Coleman’s old U.S. Senate seat. Coleman’s appeal brief is due April 30. Franken’s reply is due May 11, to which Coleman must reply by May 15.

The order removes any doubt that the state’s high court would accept Coleman’s petition to appeal the special three-judge panel’s ruling that the former senator is still 312 votes short of the total votes amassed by the former comedian. Approximately 2.9 million Minnesotans cast ballots in the race. 

It also quashes hopes and predictions that Minnesota might have a second U.S. Senator seated by Memorial Day. One expert has speculated that the state Supreme Court justices might take two to three weeks to rule after hearing oral arguments. 

A minor order issued yesterday in the case was signed by only five of the court’s justices, signaling that as with earlier high-court decisions, only those who did not serve on the State Canvassing Board (which oversaw the statewide hand recount in the race) will deliberate on Coleman’s appeal.

Yesterday’s order also suggested that justices who made financial contributions to the candidates before joining the bench — even to Coleman’s 2008 campaign — won’t recuse themselves from considering the appeal.