A federal appeals court upheld the Michigan recount that’s been under way since Monday in an opinion issued late Tuesday, just moments before a state appeals court issued an opinion saying the recount should never have been allowed to begin. The dueling appellate opinions set up further proceedings before U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith, who ordered the recount to begin Monday, two days before state officials had scheduled it to start. In a 2-1 opinion, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said Goldsmith “did not abuse (his) discretion” in ruling that the start of the recount should be accelerated to Monday, from a planned start date of Wednesday. Though that’s a blow to the Michigan Republican Party, which sought to stop the recount, the ruling also contained hope for state Republicans, because it was limited to Goldsmith’s action in doing away with a planned two business-day delay in starting the recount in Michigan. It didn’t address whether the recount itself was lawful.