Court sets June date for Franken, Coleman

ST. PAUL, Minn., April 24 (UPI) -- Minnesota citizens will have to wait more than a month to learn who they elected U.S. senator under a schedule set Friday by the state Supreme Court.

The justices scheduled oral argument June 1 in the dispute between the Democrat, former "Saturday Night Live" star Al Franken, and the Republican, former Sen. Norm Coleman, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reported Friday.

After a recount, Franken had a 225-vote lead out of 2.5 million cast. Coleman challenged the outcome in court, but the ruling by an appeals panel last week added to Franken's margin, making it 312.

Coleman argues that around 4,000 absentee ballots were improperly thrown out.

While Franken grew up in a Minneapolis suburb and has spent most of his adult life in New York, Coleman grew up in New York and spent most of his adult life in Minnesota, where he practiced law and served as mayor of St. Paul. Coleman won a narrow victory over former Vice President Walter Mondale in 2002 after the Democratic incumbent, Paul Wellstone, was killed in a plane crash shortly before the election.