MN Supreme Court Justice is a Norm Coleman Donor and Should Recuse Himself

(Originally posted at MyDD. Visit my blog, Senate Guru.)

Last week, I took a look at the political leanings of the five Minnesota Supreme Court Justices who will decide Republican Norm Coleman's likely appeal. Of one of the five Justices, Justice Christopher J. Dietzen, I suggested that he "has the clearest partisan background" of any of the Justices, pointing to facts including Dietzen serving as a campaign lawyer on Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's 2002 campaign. Of Dietzen's service on Republican Pawlenty's campaign, I sarcastically noted:

So, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign lawyer is one of the five judges that will decide Republican Norm Coleman's appeal. Nothing wrong with that.

Clearly, one of the Justices being active in Republican politics is sketchy, but I didn't go so far as to call for Justice Dietzen to recuse himself from any further cases before the state Supreme Court involving Norm Coleman and the Senate seat. Until now.

DownWithTyranny! took my analysis a little further and found out that Justice Dietzen is himself a two-time Norm Coleman donor! A simple search on OpenSecrets.org finds that Justice Dietzen has given to a number of Republican committees and candidates, including:

Contributor Occupation Date Amount Recipient
Chris Dietzen Larkin Hoffman 12/3/01 $250 Coleman, Norm (R)
Chris Dietzen Larkin Hoffman 1/21/04 $250 Coleman, Norm (R)

FYI, Larkin Hoffman is one of the law firms that Dietzen worked at before becoming a judge.

Remember that two of the Minnesota Supreme Court's seven Justices recused themselves from hearing Coleman's appeal to the state Supreme Court because they served on the state Canvassing Board. Those two Justices wanted to avoid the conflict of having served on the Canvassing Board and then serving on the Court that will hear an appeal of, in part, the Canvassing Board's actions and decisions.

Well, one of the remaining Justices that will decide Norm Coleman's electoral fate is a two-time Norm Coleman donor! Heck, one of the two contributions occurred in the six years leading up to Coleman's 2008 re-election bid - in other words, it was put toward this very election whose result Coleman is preparing to appeal. This is a crystal clear conflict of interest. Justice Dietzen should recuse himself from any Coleman appeals to the state Supreme Court in order to prevent the (rather obvious) appearance of bias. If you feel the same way, you should let Justice Dietzen know by contacting his office at [phone], and - very respectfully - urging Justice Dietzen to recuse himself in order to avoid a clear conflict of interest and the appearance of bias by having a previous Norm Coleman donor rule on Norm Coleman's electoral fate.

Comments

[M W]

Minnesotans are a unique bunch.

What would Jessee do? How crazed will Congresswoman Bachmann get?

Seat Senator Franken now!

SNL, court rulings and uncorrupted legislation should be sufficient motive.

Rush Limbaugh is too..

[GreatNews27]

Excuse me????? I'll have you know that in THIS great nation, the more money you give to candidates, the more votes you get to cast. It's called democracy! I'm sure once the news is out, this particular judge will be granted extra votes due to his support for one side over the other. You should really bone up on U.S. civics. It's not like it used to be when the people had a say.

[SeaKitten]

A $250 donation 5 years ago is not ground for recusal. Please. Comparisons with the Canvassing board member recusals is an apples to oranges comparision. In that case, judges would be judging their own actions. Not the case here.

[KevinRiley]

He obviously should recuse himself...­and he probably will. I've seen judges from both parties recuse themselves when they should, and less commonly, fail to do so. I've never noticed any particular partisan disparity in that regard. And I challenge anyone reading this to demonstrate any such evidence exists.

[cowboyjerkface]

There are no adults in charge at the gop......j­ust sissy little hissy fitters...­better known as the 23% TeaBaggers

[HuffandPuff1]

Nothing new here. Corruptness follows dems wherever they go. Do ya think the judge will divest himself of this case and hand it off? Don't think so...

[treetracker]

Email: http://www.mncourts.gov/?page=1237&contact=28097

[kmich718]

Thank you! I"ve sent him my thoughts!

[babyboomerorig]

If the judge doesn't recuse himself, take it away from him. It's like me deciding between my kids and a stranger..­..guess who'll win!

[HLL]

Of course Dietzen should recuse himself and Senator Franken should be seated. He's won three re-counts. THREE!!!!!! SEAT SENATOR FRANKEN NOW. This is a travesty, a complete and total farce. Coleman should be personally held responsible for the millions of dollars in legal fees he is causing Minnesotans to pay. SEAT SENATOR FRANKEN NOW and end this horror.

[Rule Of Law]

Republicans play to win at any cost--ethics, honesty, integrity, honor.

[kmich718]

They care for none of those traits....­.

[HuffandPuff1]

I believe the comment should be read, "Democrats play to cheat, at any cost."

[cowboyjerkface]

Every loss the gop suffered over the last 2 election cycles have nothing to do with anything but people getting tired of the same old "low taxes, no gay marriage, kill the muslims, its the liberals fault" and the rest of the republican plank that did nothing to create jobs or make this country any safer.

Your comment is a reflection of how shallow your intellectual capacity is. To reduce an election decided by the people, and after 3 recounts Frankens lead just grows as cheating is so 13 year old of you.

No wonder your party is dying. The elders of the party act like children and the younger members are leaving in disgust and embarassment.

[rabiddog6708]

By cheating, you mean actually counting all the legal votes. I guess, in Repub eyes, this would be cheating.