The Nation -- The Minnesota Supreme Court has confirmed what everyone pretty much knew: The voters chose Democratic Farmer Labor Party challenger Al Franken over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in last fall's U.S. Senate election.

And while the election result was close, the court's decision was not.

The justices ruled 5-0 that: "Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled [under Minnesota law] to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota."

This should -- and, of course, the key word in this convoluted competition is still "should" -- settle the last contested congressional race of 2008.

Under Minnesota law,the court's decision gives Mr. Franken the right to occupy the seat that a series of recounts and official reviews confirmed was won by the satirist with a narrow but steady margin that ultimately expanded to 312 votes.

Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, who has delayed signing the certification of election that Franken needed to become the 60th Democratic member of the current Senate, has repeatedly suggested that he would abide by the decision of the state's highest court.

Even Coleman, whose dead-ender appeals have been funded by Republican donors from around the country as well as stipends from the campaign funds of sitting GOP senators, had indicated before the ruling that he would be disinclined to press his fight if he lost at the state Supreme Court level.

There are still "I"s to be dotted and "T"s to be crossed.

But it would appear likely that, by the time the Senate returns from its July 4 recess, Democrats will have a caucus that includes 58 party members and two independents (Vermonts's Bernie Sanders and Connecticut's Joe Lieberman) who sit with the majority.

That's the "magic" 60 that allows a majority party to avert filibusters and schedule votes on legislation and nominations.

With Republicans sticking to their "party of no" approach -- and maintaining remarkable unity -- the seating of Franken will have significance. It won't mean that the majority party can have its way with the Senate, as there will continue to be cases where individual Democrats break ranks. But it does mean that the will of the electorate -- which voted overwhelmingly in the last two electin cycles for a Democratic Congress -- will be at least somewhat more difficult for Rush Limbaugh's rejectionists to thwart.

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