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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (97238)	12/1/2000 2:54:31 PM
From: ColtonGang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Top U.S. Court Signals Ideological Split on Election (Update1) By Greg Stohr Washington, Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court signaled in oral arguments that it might split along ideological lines in Florida's presidential election deadlock, with conservative justices voicing support for Texas Gov. George W. Bush and liberals siding with Vice President Al Gore. Bush wants the nation's highest court to reverse a Florida Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for manual ballot recounts in Democratic counties. The Republicans say the state court illegally changed a statutory deadline. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said the ruling created a ``real problem'' under the U.S. Constitution, while liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the high court had never ``impugned a state supreme court'' in the manner being sought by Bush lawyers. A ruling for Bush might deal a psychological blow to the Democrats and undermine key aspects of Gore's challenge to the Texas governor's certified victory in the state. The winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes will claim the presidency. Moderates Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy emerged as possible swing votes among the nine justices. Both expressed concern that the Florida court altered its statute, with O'Connor calling the ruling a ``dramatic change.'' At the same time, they questioned whether the dispute belonged in federal court at all. ``We're looking for a federal issue,'' Kennedy said. Scalia Concerns Scalia said the Florida Supreme Court might have violated a U.S. constitutional clause that gives state legislatures, rather than the courts, power to set presidential election rules. Scalia said the lower court might have run afoul of that provision by relying on the Florida Constitution, rather than the legislatively crafted code. ``That is a real problem under Article II'' of the U.S. Constitution, he told Gore lawyer Laurence Tribe. O'Connor picked up on that notion later, telling Tribe, ``there should perhaps be some deference to the concept expressed in Article II.'' The justices gave no indication when they will issue a decision. The high court in the past has ruled on emergency appeals as soon as the day after an argument. A split ruling might be damaging to the court's standing as a non-partisan arbiter, some legal experts said. ``I think it would be terrible'' if it's a 5-4 ruling, said Georgetown University law Professor Susan Low Bloch. ``They're very divided.'' Florida Fight The Supreme Court decision might not be the final word. If the high court leaves the Florida Supreme Court ruling intact, it will clear the way for Gore to press his challenge to Bush's certification as the state's winner. In a case pending before a state judge in Tallahassee, Gore is arguing that partial recounts in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties should be completed and included in the final totals. Bush attorneys filed legal papers in Tallahassee last night citing more than a dozen reasons why Gore's lawsuit should be thrown out. They said they plan to subpoena an additional 1.17 million ballots and plan to call more than 90 witnesses at the trial. The state legislature, meanwhile, plans to hold a special session to consider naming its own slate of electors if the fight extends to mid-December. Separately, a Democratic activist is pressing a separate suit seeking to invalidate 15,000 absentee ballots in Republican- dominated Seminole County, arguing that Republican's shouldn't have been allowed to write in the necessary voter registration numbers on ballot applications. Liberal Support Theodore Olson, a Bush campaign lawyer, told the justices that the Florida Supreme Court ruling violated both the U.S. Constitution and a century-old federal election law by effectively rewriting the state's election law after the voting was over. Tribe countered that the lower court simply engaged in a traditional judicial function by interpreting an unclear statute. He drew his strongest support from Justices Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. Ginsburg and Souter repeatedly offered words of support for the Democrats, with Souter at times using his questions to counter points made by Scalia. Ginsburg told Olson, ``I don't know of any case where we have impugned a state supreme court as you are asking us to do in this case.'' Souter suggested the Supreme Court has no role in addressing the statutory provision invoked by the Republicans. Democrats say the law simply instructs Congress that it doesn't have to recognize electors who weren't appointed under pre-existing laws. ``Why should the federal judiciary be interfering in what seems to be a very carefully thought-out scheme for determining what happens if you are right?'' he asked Olson. Signs and Celebrities Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris declared Bush the winner on Nov. 26 by 537 votes. A Supreme Court victory for Bush would, at a minimum, bump that margin to 930 votes, the lead he would have enjoyed had the Florida Supreme Court not extended the deadline for manual recounts. Depending on how broadly the high court rules, it also may cast doubt on Gore's claims in his challenge to the certified results. Major networks began airing the full 90-minute audio tape of the proceedings minutes after the arguments finished. No live coverage was permitted while the session was under way. Hundreds of chanting and sign-carrying demonstrators supporting the two presidential candidates rallied outside the marble Supreme Court building while the justices heard arguments inside. Although neither Gore, Bush nor their prospective vice presidents attended the session, a host of other high-profile political figures helped fill the packed courtroom. They included Gore's four children, retired Justice Byron White, former Justice Department antitrust chief Joel I. Klein, Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and top Gore aides Warren Christopher and William Daley.