Gore camp: Supreme Court move 'neutral development'
United Press International - December 04, 2000 17:00
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By MARK BENJAMIN, MITCHELL PROTHERO and MARK KUKIS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) - Republican Presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush said Monday that the Supreme Court's decision to throw out a recent Florida court order that manual recounts of disputed ballots must be included in the state's final tally of votes from the presidential election was "comforting" and "a positive development." Aides were blunter, calling it "a win for us."
But Vice President Al Gore's beleaguered campaign denied it was a defeat for them.
Ron Klain, a Gore attorney and political adviser called the decision a "neutral" development. "From our perspective, it is neither good news or bad news, it is no news."
"I felt like the Supreme Court of the United States made a very strong statement on our behalf," Bush told reporters in Texas. "The Supreme Court acted in a away that I think was positive for our campaign."
On Capitol Hill, Democrats signaled willingness to continue backing Gore politically in his legal challenges to Bush's certified win in Florida, despite the high court's action, which some called a setback for the vice president.
But Republican lawmakers said the decision added weight to calls for Gore to concede.
Acting following a historic hearing Friday, the Supreme Court Monday unanimously ordered the Florida high court to explain why it extended the deadline for certifying the result of the election in the state, and ordered the inclusion of manually counted ballots in Florida's final vote tally. The decision - which shaved Bush's lead in the state from 930 to 537 votes -- was opposed by Republicans, who appealed to the Supreme Court in Washington.
In their decision, Supreme Court justices indicated they did not have enough information to rule whether the earlier state ruling violated federal law or the U.S. Constitution.
Monday's unsigned "per curiam" decision they issued means the case is being sent back to the Florida Supreme Court for a new hearing. Pending an explanation, the justices set aside the Florida ruling.
Gore aides said the ruling was unlikely to impact their other legal challenges to the Sunshine State presidential ballot tally. "All this means is we're back at the Florida Supreme Court," Gore chief spokesman Chris Lehane told United Press International.
But James A. Baker, III, former Secretary of State and the Bush campaign's point man in Florida speaking to reporters at a press conference in Tallahassee, called the decision a victory for Bush.
"This decision was unanimous," said Baker. "This decision vacated the Florida Supreme Court ruling, and it did so on the basis of the reservations that we have expressed about this decision in the past."
Gore's lead attorney in Florida, David Boies, said that the high court ruling would not adversely affect the outcome of his challenge to the vote totals. This case, which is currently before Leon County Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls, could reverse Bush's narrow claim to Florida's crucial 25 Electoral College votes.
"I think the Supreme Court of the United States' opinion does not in anyway effect the contest that is going on in front of judge Sauls," Boise said, speaking to reporters in Tallahassee.
Judge Sauls is expected to rule later today on the Gore camp's challenge, which seeks to have Florida's official tally ammended by a manual recount of some 10,000 disputed, or so-called "dimpled", ballots previously counted by machine and registering no vote for president.
Whichever side loses is expected to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court immediately. However, the Gore campaign is hoping that if the decision goes their way, Sauls will order an immediate start to the hand counting of the disputed ballots - brought to Tallahassee last week from three counties in the South of the state.
But Bush lawyer Barry Richard told United Press International that the Supreme Court ruling means that Sauls cannot easily order an immediate ballot recount, even if he finds in Gore's favor when he rules shortly on the vice president's lawsuit,
"It's vacated the Florida Supreme Court decision," he said. "I think that might well stop him from starting a recount of the ballots at this point."
Richard argued that by questioning the basis on which the Florida Supreme Court had ordered manual recounts included in the state's final vote tally, the high court had cast doubt on the legitimacy of the whole process to such an extent that judge Sauls would have difficulty in ordering further such hand counts.
"One of the arguments that I made (before Judge Sauls)," Richard said, "is that Palm Beach County and Broward County did change the rules because they haven't counted dimpled ballots in the past, and I argued that they shouldn't here. The federal statute that the Supreme Court was dealing with prohibits Broward and Palm Beach Counties from changing the rules and counting those ballots."
Richard acknowledged that the Florida Supreme Court response to the U.S. high court was also likely to impact Judge Sauls' decision.
"I think at the very least, judge Sauls will want to wait and see what the Supreme Court (of Florida) is going to do now before he gets into ballot counting."
Richard said it was "debatable" whether the U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday would affect the state's certified vote count. Some Bush supporters had argued that the decision - since it set aside the inclusion of manual recounts - put Bush's lead in the state back up to 930 votes, though this is still less than
"It's unclear at this point what the certified vote tally is, but that doesn't matter," he told UPI, "because we have a slate of certified electors from Florida and it doesn't really matter by what margin (bush won)."
For his part, Boise acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court's move adds to an already confusing array of legal questions faced by Florida justices trying to adjudicate election matters ahead of a Dec. 12 deadline for Florida to pick its Electoral College electors.
"Obviously everything is tight," Boise said. "It may be one more issue for the Florida Supreme Court to deal with."
Democrats on Capitol Hill were reviewing the high court's decision Monday. Last week, some Democrats had said an adverse decision by the court against Gore would eviscerate Gore's political support in his own party.
John Conyers, D-Mich., ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee, called the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, "inconclusive."
"For partisans on either side to declare victory as a result of this opinion is wishful thinking, at best," Conyers said.
Other Gore supporters agreed that the U.S. Supreme Court decision would not affect the backing the vice president was getting from lawmakers.
Asked by United Press International in Tallahassee whether he was worried, Ron Klain, a Gore attorney and political adviser said: "No. Absolutely not. They (congressional democrats) support counting every vote and do not look at this as a damaging blow."
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill said the decision could sound a death knell for Gore's legal challenge.
Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said the decision represents another time-consuming road block that is "hard to imagine" Gore could overcome before the Dec. 12 deadline for Florida to decide the fate of its 25 electoral votes.
"I would say that within the context of this decision by the U.S. Supreme court . . . Vice President Gore may want to reconsider his position on continuing the challenge," Specter said.
Other Republicans called for Gore to give up now. "In view of this ruling by the highest court in the land, I again call on Vice President Al Gore to concede graciously and drop all plans for dragging this out any longer," House Republican Conference Chairman J.S. Watts from Oklahoma said.
Specter also said that the Florida state legislature may soon move to send the 25 electoral votes to Bush anyway.
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