To: Bosco who wrote (309 ) 12/9/2000 8:23:59 PM From: Carl R. Read Replies (1) | Respond to Yes, Bosco, again my fears prove justified. The USSC just can't keep out of it, unfortunately. There is no question that the FSC decision was bad law, and it violated not only many well known legal principles, but violated procedural rules as well (instead of issuing orders in the case the normal thing would be to remand for further proceedings consistent with the decision). Nevertheless the decision was crafted as a decision based on an blatant misinterpretation of the Florida Election Law where they created rights that didn't exist and in some cases did the exact opposite of the clear language. For example the statute it says that if there is a manual recount all votes must be counted, not just a few precincts of counties such as Miami-Dade, and not only undervotes. The Miami-Dade recount was stopped because the board read and followed the statute, unlike the FSC. It doesn't matter though if they misread Florida law. The USSC has no authority to overrule them on how to interpret their own law, and can only act if there is a Federal question. There probably is one, but the USSC could easily have used this as an excuse for not getting involved.
