Posted by
Ron Devito on Monday, December 27, 2010 6:18:40 AM
The Anchorage Daily News
and the Miller campaign both reported overnight that US Senate
Candidate Joe Miller will continue his case in federal court arguing on
the US Constitution's Election and Equal Protection clauses. Miller,
however, is withdrawing his motion, which led to the federal injunction
on the State of Alaska certifying the election. The withdrawal, or the
judge's lifting of the injunction irrespective of Miller's actions means
that Sen. Murkowski will be seated in the next Congress and retain her
seniority on committees.
Judge Beistline will rule from the filing of both Joe Miller and the
State of Alaska, so there will not be any oral arguments made by either
side. Miller first filed his suit in federal court, but Judge Beistline
directed him to file in the state court system. Miller lost his case at
the Superior (trial) court and the state Supreme Court unanimously
upheld the Superior Court's ruling.
From the US District Court, where Miller's federal case resides, the
next stop is a Circuit Court of Appeals proceeding, and the final stop
is the US Supreme Court which may or may not grant Certiorari to hear
the case, assuming Miller pursues the case beyond the federal trial
level.
Constitutional Arguments
In its court filings, the Miller legal team pointed out
several issues that require further review including: whether the U.S.
Constitution’s Election Clause was violated by ignoring the
legislature’s mandatory provisions for write-in candidates; whether the
U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause was violated by the
different vote counting standards that were applied, dependent on the
candidate in question; and other issues such as at least hundreds of
felons voting and at least hundreds of ballots being filled out by a
handful of people.