Special session proceeds as Supreme Court deliberates
Appeals court upholds disputed military ballots
| |
Brian Hindt, left, a supporter of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, argues with James Cooke, a supporter of Vice President Al Gore, outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday
| |
|  | WEB EXCLUSIVE | |
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With a U.S. Supreme Court ruling expected on disputed Florida vote recounts, that state's Legislature will press ahead Tuesday with a special session aimed at appointing 25 delegates to the Electoral College.
U.S. Supreme Court justices continued deliberations late Monday -- after hearing attorneys for Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore press rival claims about Florida vote recounts. Earlier in the day, an appeals court in Atlanta had agreed with a federal judge who refused to throw out 2,000 of Florida's overseas ballots, mostly from military personnel.
Meanwhile, special committees of both chambers of the Florida Legislature approved resolutions Monday that could lead to the appointment of delegates to the Electoral College -- as an insurance policy, supporters say, to assure Florida's participation in the Electoral College.
The state House of Representatives is scheduled to move ahead with its version of the resolution at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
In the U.S. Supreme Court case, Gore seeks resumption of a suspended hand recount of Florida votes, while Bush wants it shut down for good. After more than a month's stalemate in the U.S. presidential election, a decision by the justices could finally decide who becomes the next president. There was no indication on when the court would issue its ruling.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned why the nation's highest court should overrule the Florida high court's interpretation of state law and "say what the Florida law is."
Some of her colleagues, skeptical about why they should be involved in a state matter, asked whether there is a constitutional issue at stake. "Where's the federal question here?" Justice Anthony Kennedy asked Olson.
"I have the same problem Justice Kennedy does, apparently," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor interjected at one point. (More on Monday's U.S. Supreme Court case)
|
U.S. SUPREME COURT
AUDIO / TRANSCRIPT |
|
| |
 | ALSO |
|
| | |
|
U.S. SUPREME COURT DOCUMENTS |
|
| |
 |
VIDEO TIMELINE |
|
| |
|
GALLERY |
|
| |
  | VIDEO / AUDIO |
|
| | |
| IN-DEPTH | | | |
|
VIDEO |
|
|
|
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT DOCUMENTS | |
| | |
| RELATED LAWS | | | |
 | INTERACTIVE | | | |
|
Latest developments
• Bush's lawyer, Theodore Olson, argued Monday that the state court engaged in a "wholesale revision of Florida election law" after the November 7 election. David Boies, representing Gore, replied that the court simply was trying to act fairly and interpret state law, ahead of Tuesday's deadline to select presidential electors.
After the hearing, Boies reflected on its historic nature: "This is the first time," Boies told reporters, "that the United States Supreme Court has ever taken a case that would decide the future president of the United States."
Olson pressed his point from the hearing: "This is very much a federal issue. What happens in Florida affects people all over the United States," Olson told reporters. "The president is the one person, along with the vice president, elected by all of the people in the United States, and there is abiding national concern with the fairness and legality of the process." (More on the hearing)
• Responding to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 6-1 Monday that its earlier decision allowing manual recounts and extending the deadline for counting presidential ballots was based on state law, a spokesman said. The dissenting vote came from Chief Justice Charles T. Wells, who said he did not concur "in the reissued opinion" and opposed issuing a new decision while the U.S. Supreme Court was deliberating.
There was little practical effect from Monday's state court decision, with the question of hand counts now before the nation's highest court. The decision stems from a case sent back to the state court from the U.S. Supreme Court on December 4, which had questioned whether the state court had based its decision on state law or the Constitution.
• In Atlanta, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday agreed with a federal judge who refused to throw out 2,000 of Florida's overseas ballots, mostly from military personnel, because they arrived after Election Day.
The appeals court said the ruling by U.S. District Judge Maurice Paul in Gainesville, Florida, was consistent with recent comments by Florida's highest court about the workings of the absentee ballot law.
The lawsuit was brought by Democratic voters.
• Committees in the Republican-majority Florida House and Senate approved resolutions to appoint their own slate of electors -- as an insurance policy, supporters say, to guarantee the state's participation in the Electoral College, which meets December 18 to select the president. (More on the Florida Legislature)
Tom Feeney, speaker of the Florida House, said Monday the state House would meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday to begin the process of appointing electors.
"Our intent right now would be to move forward," Feeney said at a late-afternoon news conference. "It would be my great hope that we are given some specific advice from the U.S. Supreme Court. ... I know that they are well aware of the deadline. ... If we haven't heard anything, we would proceed as planned."
Feeney called the election controversy "not just a hot potato, it's a radioactive hot potato. We're all looking forward to December 18th, when if it is still a radioactive hot potato, it will be in somebody else's lap."
• Gore campaign officials said after the U.S. Supreme Court hearing Monday that the campaign had presented a solid case and that the Florida Supreme Court was correct in ordering hand counts of disputed ballots in the state.
"We feel optimistic, as we have all along, about the strength of our case because it's predicated on the principle of one person, one vote and count all the ballots," said Gore campaign spokesman Chris Lehane. "We believe the Florida Supreme Court gave an opinion based on sound reasoning and grounded in Florida state law."
Mark Fabiani, another Gore spokesman, praised the campaign's attorneys for their arguments before the court. "We thought our lawyers did a great job," he said. "I didn't hear any compelling reason why vote counting should be stopped. The best way to resolve this election dispute is count the votes, see who's ahead, and call it a day."
• Bush said he and his legal team are "cautiously optimistic" about their chances in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Texas governor spoke briefly with reporters on the steps of the state Capitol in Austin -- once as he headed for his office and again later as he left.
Asked if he had been briefed on the high court hearing, Bush said, "I talked to some of our legal team. They are cautiously optimistic. If they are, I am." Earlier, Bush said he was holding "my emotions in check" while awaiting the ruling.
• Gore waited out the Supreme Court hearing at home in Washington with his wife, Tipper. Three of their four children -- Karenna, Kristin and Albert III -- accompanied campaign chairman William Daley and former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the head of Gore's legal team, to the Supreme Court chamber to hear arguments. Daughter Sarah is at school in Boston. Daley and Christopher planned to brief Gore and running mate Joseph Lieberman.
• As oral arguments in the Supreme Court wrapped up, Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, appeared at the White House for a signing ceremony for legislation to preserve the Everglades. Bush largely avoided direct questions about the post-election presidential battle.
Asked after the event about the political fight, Bush focused his comments on the Everglades. When reporters asked if he had spoken to his brother, Bush said, "Marvin? I had a nice conversation with Marvin before I went to the airport. He's doing well, glad you asked! That's very kind."
When asked about his other brother, he said, "No I haven't, I haven't. Now I'm getting back into the woodwork." With that, he ducked to the back of
the news conference.
• Some Democrats raised alarms Monday because two sons of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia work for law firms connected to the case. John Scalia accepted a position with the Miami-based firm Greenberg Traurig on November 7. The next day, Barry Richard, a partner in the firm, said he was called about representing Bush in Florida. A second son, Eugene Scalia, is a partner in the Washington office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher -- the firm representing Bush in the Supreme Court arguments. He is not involved in the case.
• The Florida Supreme Court received written arguments Monday in two absentee ballot cases, from Seminole and Martin counties, where there were about 25,000 absentee ballots. Because of alleged irregularities in some of the request forms for those ballots, Democrats want all of them thrown out. Lower courts dismissed the complaints. Republican operatives admitted altering ballot request forms, but the lower courts ruled the irregularities weren't serious enough to throw out votes. Gore is not a party to either lawsuit. (More on the cases)
• Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, a Bush backer, dismissed the idea that securing an election victory through a narrow decision in the U.S. Supreme Court would cost Bush legitimacy as president. "That's something that's bestowed by the American people," Racicot told CNN.
• A CNN/USA Today Gallup Poll found a nearly even split over whether the U.S. Supreme Court should allow the recount to continue -- 47 percent for a recount and 49 percent against, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The survey of 735 adults also found 72 percent believe the Supreme Court will rule fairly in the case. However, among people who identified themselves as Bush supporters the figure was 87 percent, while among Gore supporters it was 54 percent. The poll was conducted on Sunday. (More on the poll)
• If Gore loses in the U.S. Supreme Court, his advisers concede the vice president would be nearly out of options to continue the legal fight. "If no votes are counted, then I think that's the end of the road," Boies said Sunday. But he stopped short of saying his client would bow out if the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against him, suggesting Gore might await the appeals of the failed Democratic lawsuits seeking to throw out the absentee ballots.
What's at stake
Florida's 25 electoral votes are the balance that will determine who wins a presidential contest still in dispute nearly five weeks after the November 7 election that gave Gore a 337,576-vote lead in the nationwide popular vote.
Presidents are chosen by electoral votes, and the states officially select their elector slates on December 12. The Electoral College casts its votes -- 270 are needed to win -- on December 18 in the state capitols.
The outcome will be reported to the new Congress by January 6.
CNN Senior Washington Correspondent Charles Bierbauer, CNN National Correspondents Bob Franken and Mike Boettcher, Correspondents Carl Rochelle, Bill Hemmer, Kate Snow, Jeanne Meserve, Eileen O'Connor, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Text of opinions, orders and motions
Resources
Message boards
Related sites
| 
![[CNN Money]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/main/fn.logo.newsnet.gif){kind=logo}
![[SI.com]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/main/si.logo.gif){kind=logo}
(
