Franken asks court to be temporary senator

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Al Franken, locked in a marathon recount with Norm Coleman, asked the Minnesota Supreme Court Thursday to direct that he be named a provisional U.S. senator.

An attorney for Franken, a former writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live," told the jurists that Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie were supplanting federal authority by refusing to issue an election certificate to the Democratic candidate.

Pawlenty and Ritchie previously said state law barred them from issuing a certificate until all challenges were resolved, a point argued by attorneys for Coleman and the state.

The hearing ended in St. Paul, Minn., after an hour.

Chief Justice Eric Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson, who sat on the state Canvassing Board that certified the recount results, did not participate.