Senate Attention Focuses on Franken and Coleman Fight With Burris Battle Over
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 13, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — With the battle over seating pro-abortion Illinois senator Roland Burris over, the focus is turning even more towards the battle between Al Franken and Norm Coleman in Minnesota. Franken has a slight lead in the 2008 Senate battle but Coleman alleges many ballots need to be recounted because of irregularities.
The battle is important for the pro-life movement because it determines whether a pro-life or pro-abortion advocate will be the Senate’s 100th member.
And for pro-life advocates in the Senate using filibusters and other legislative actions to stop incoming president Barack Obama’s pro-abortion agenda, one vote could make the difference.
Coleman initially led in the Senate recount, but Franken eventually took over. Now, Coleman ha filed an election lawsuit saying there are newly discovered ballots, missing ballots, wrongly rejected absentee ballots and double counting of votes that could easily alter the very narrow lead Franken has.
The Minnesota Secretary of State, in an identical move as was seen in the Burris battle, has refused to issue the certificate Franken needs to validate his election win.
Despite that, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated Franken may be seated.
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, today, said he wouldn’t stand for that and warned Democrats not to try to seat Franken because of the legal battle. He also pledged, as has pro-life Texas Sen. John Cornyn, to use a filibuster to stop the Senate from doing so.
Kyl went to the Senate floor to predict that the legal battle could go well into February and he criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for saying Norm Coleman will not return to the Senate.
“Clearly there’s something wrong here and it has to be resolved by court,” Kyl said. “There are no stipulations for when proceedings must be completed. Estimations are that it could take a month or more.”
“Unfortunately, the majority leader and his staff have publicly stated they will try to seat Al Franken while the contest is under way,” Kyl added. “If it [the election recount] is done in the proper way, then hopefully everyone will be satisfied with the result … and we will seat the appropriate candidate."
A filibuster, which requires 40 votes to sustain, could be the only tactic pro-life advocates have to stop the nomination of pro-abortion Supreme Court members or pro-abortion legislation like the so-called Freedom of Choice Act.
That’s the bill that would make unlimited abortions any time in pregnancy the national law and overturn all of the pro-life laws in every state nationwide.
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
