RULING UNLIKELY UNTIL NEXT WEEK
Despite the importance of the case, the court was not expected to rule until early next week at the soonest.
Bush asked the court last week to decide whether their counterparts on Florida’s Supreme Court erred by ordering state election officials to delay certification of Bush’s lead.
Gore cut Bush’s lead in half after Harris accepted amended returns that included manual recounts in two of the three counties where Gore had requested them.
Bush is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce the original certification deadline of Nov. 14. That would restore his original lead, but more important, it would also cut off Gore’s legal efforts to recount disputed ballots in the three Democratic-leaning counties.
Several hundred demonstrators milled around the courthouse as the hearing took place, chanting and exchanging taunts but maintaining the peace. They were joined by lawyers, news media and court staff hoping to gain a coveted seat in the packed courtroom.
Apart from credentialed media and members of the legal community, only the first 50 observers, who arrived outside the court before dawn Thursday, received seats for the full hearing. Others were shown in for three-minute intervals to get a feel of the court and its proceedings.
EFFECT OF COURT DECISION
For all of its drama, the court’s unprecedented hearing might have little impact on the unresolved battle for the White House, reported NBC News correspondent Pete Williams.
Bush’s lawyers contend that if they win, wiping away the latest vote total showing Gore behind by 537 votes, Gore’s ability to contest anything that happened during the extended recount period after Nov. 14 would disappear.
But many legal scholars said a Bush win would make little difference. Florida’s election contest laws are so flexible, they told Williams, that they would allow Gore’s lawyers to continue with their lawsuits.
“It’s just too late for the United States Supreme Court to do anything meaningful,” Terence Anderson of the University of Miami Law School told Williams. “If it rules for the Democrats, it has no effect. If it rules for the Republicans, it has no effect.” |
