U.S. faces potential
‘political civil war’
America on the precipice
of a constitutional crisis
NEW YORK, Dec. 8 — Now that the Florida Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Vice President Al Gore and ordered a recount in Florida, NBC’s Washington Bureau chief, Tim Russert, says there will be enormous consequences. No matter who becomes the president, it will be a long time before the institutions, political parties and the people heal.
MSNBC:
Tim, the Bush campaign has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court already. It takes four justices to commit the court to hearing arguments. What happens if they take it?
RUSSERT:
What the Bush campaign is really hoping for is for the U.S. Supreme Court to not only get four justices to agree to take the case, but additionally, to get a justice to order a stay and not allow any recount to take place.
If they agree to hear the case, they will certainly ask for briefs and then perhaps schedule arguments as early as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week.
MSNBC:
What makes those days so important?
RUSSERT:
Because Tuesday is December 12th and the Florida Legislature is poised to act. Wednesday, the Florida Legislature will in fact select electors — 25 in number — committed to George W. Bush.
If, in fact, the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case and the recount goes forward and Al Gore takes the lead, the Florida Supreme Court could certify Al Gore the winner and he would be entitled to the 25 electors from Florida. You’d have two slates of electors — one from the court and one from the Legislature.
MSNBC:
What happens then?
RUSSERT:
We go to Washington — to Congress. The House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans, would say, give us the Bush electors. The Senate is 50-50, Democrats-Republicans. Al Gore (in his role as vice president) would cast the deciding vote, we think. That would be tested in the U.S. Supreme Court. Assuming Gore is allowed to cast that vote, the Senate would say, “Give us the Gore electors.”
Which slate is seated then? The law says whichever was certified by the governor of the state. People say that’s easy. That means Jeb Bush certified Bush electors, they must be Bush. But the Florida Supreme Court may order Jeb Bush to certify the Gore electors or be held in contempt of court — even potentially go to prison.
This is now at a stage where there are hundreds of congressmen and their staffers chartering aircraft and heading to Florida. Expect a pitched battle over the next few days, if those ballots are counted. That battle will rage like a prairie fire through Washington, where it will be fought out in the corners of Congress, and then on January 6th, the Congress will decide which slate of electors.
No matter who’s elected president of the United States and is sworn in on January 20th, I can say with relative assuredness that Congress is so divided, so poisonous right now, everyone is looking to 2002 and 2004 — the midterm election of Congress in 2002 and the next presidential election in 2004.
This is as close to a political civil war as I’ve ever witnessed.
MSNBC:
Is it hyperbolic or safe to say that we’re already in something of a constitutional crisis already, unless the U.S. Supreme Court snuffs it out early?
RUSSERT:
The Gore campaign believes it won — that more people intended to vote for Al Gore and count those votes no matter how you have to decipher the intent of the people.
The Bush campaign says, “We won this vote fair and square and you can’t be counting dimples and have the Florida Supreme Court interfere by legislating, not interpreting.”
Both campaigns are convinced of their righteousness. Both political parties are convinced of their correctness.
There is very little middle ground and I don’t see how either party can ever accept a winner from the other party as a legitimate president, because of the process we are going through to get there.
If that is how you define a constitutional crisis, then we are on the precipice, yes.
MSNBC:
Are we talking days, weeks or months before this is settled?
RUSSERT:
It depends on what the U.S. Supreme Court does. If the Supreme Court says, “Don’t start that recount, we’re going to hear this appeal. We’re going to hear this early next week.” And then if they decide that George Bush is the winner, then it is over. People will accept the Supreme Court decision.
If the Supreme Court says that Al Gore is the winner, the Florida Legislature will have a hard time going forward with an alternate slate of electors.
If, however, the Supreme Court says, “You handle it Florida. We’ve had enough of this.” We’re going to have two slates of electors and that guarantees (a fight stretching) on into January.
MSNBC:
What could the U.S. Supreme Court do? The rap on the Florida Supreme Court is that it is writing law on the fly — that stinging dissent by the chief justice of the court, saying you people are causing a constitutional crisis. The U.S. Supreme Court will be even more reluctant to write law on the fly.
RUSSERT:
The dissenting opinion given by the presiding justice of the Florida Supreme Court, Charles Wells, is almost a blueprint for (U.S. Supreme Court justices) William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas — the three judges we know who expressed serious reservations about the first Florida Supreme Court decision, saying that the law is very clear, that you can’t change the laws after Election Day.
My sense is that they will seize upon that. Now whether they will get a fourth vote to agree to hear the appeal, or to have a stay or stop the recount is still an open question.
But there are federal issues that are being debated. The Bush campaign insists that this is a case the U.S. Supreme Court must hear. The Gore campaign says, “No, no, no. There’s no reason for that. The Florida Supreme Court acted entirely appropriately.
The scars from this will play out not only across the state of Florida, but in the U.S. Supreme Court and in the U.S. Congress for a long time to come.
There are going to be enormous consequences for what was the closest election in our American political history. We don’t know who has won. We do not know who our president will be. But, no matter who becomes the president, mark this day down. It will be a long time before the institutions, the political parties and the people heal from it.
msnbc.com |
