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Divided Supreme Court Reverses Florida Court Ruling On Hand Counts
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a decision by the Florida Supreme Court to order hand recounts of disputed presidential ballots, clearing the way for George W. Bush's election as the next U.S. president.
"Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet the December 12 date will be unconstitutional for the reasons we have discussed, we reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida ordering a recount to proceed," the justices said in their judgment.
The court was split 5-4 along ideological lines in its eagerly-awaited ruling released nearly 34 hours after hearing oral arguments from Democrat Al Gore's lawyers hoping to proceed with the new tallies and Bush attorneys charging that they are illegal and must be stopped.
The nine justices sent the case back to the Florida high court for further review. "The case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion," they said.
The nine justices had voted by a 5-4 split decision on Saturday to halt manual recounts of more than 40,000 disputed ballots ordered by the Florida Supreme Court on Friday pending Monday's hearing on the issue.
Bush, the Texas governor, enjoys a scant 537-vote edge out of more than six million ballots cast in the presidential contest in Florida five weeks ago. Gore insists that hand recounts would show he won the southeastern state.
Whoever wins Florida and its decisive 25 electoral votes will succeed Bill Clinton in the White House next month.
Hand recounts were Gore's only realistic chance of overtaking Bush's lead in the White House race.
Tuesday's victory for Bush dooms Gore's battle for recounts and leaves him with little option but to concede the presidential election for the second time after more than five weeks of battling for recounts.
Shutting off Gore's only other avenue to the White House, the Florida Supreme Court earlier Tuesday threw out appeals seeking the invalidation of some 25,000 absentee ballots in Seminole and Martin counties, most of which went to Bush.
In the November 7th election, Texas governor Bush, 54, carried the state by 1,700 votes, according to the first machine count, a margin so small a second count was mandated.
Gore, 52, who had conceded the election early on November 8th, changed his mind when the closeness of the tally became apparent, and after the second machine count he was behind by a mere 327 votes.
Boosted by the inclusion of overseas ballots, Bush's lead rose to 930, but by the time the total was officially certified on November 26th to include some hand recounts, Bush's lead was again down, to 537 votes.
The vice president, who won the nationwide vote by 300,000 ballots out of more that 100 million cast on election night, launched his official challenge, or contest of the election results, the following day.
In a bitter blow, Florida's Leon County Circuit Court Judge Sanders Sauls threw out Gore's case in its entirety on December 4th. However, the Florida's Supreme Court threw the vice president a lifeline, upholding his appeal against Sauls' decision and ordering recounts of more than 40,000 disputed ballots on Friday.
Only three times in the history of the United States has the winner of the popular vote lost the presidential election. Should Bush be confirmed as president, it will be the fourth time.
Late Tuesday night, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ed Rendell on MSNBC television called on Vice President Al Gore to concede now after the Supreme Court ruled against him.
"He should act now and concede."
Gore and his running mate, Senator Joseph Lieberman, will decide Wednesday about how to react to the latest Supreme Court ruling, the two candidates said in a statement late Tuesday.
"The decision is both complex and lengthy. It will take some time to completely analyze this opinion," the candidates said in a statement.
Rendell said he saw nothing wrong in the two politicians' decision to take some time to pore over the document a grasp its full meaning.
"If the vice president wants to take a little time to go over this, gosh, that's his right," stressed the Democratic Party leader.
But Rendell said the decision was "very frustrating" for Democrats "because, I think, every effort should have been made to count the votes of the people of Florida."
He said he was certain that the majority of people who tried to vote in Florida on election night cast their vote for the Gore-Lieberman ticket.
Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli said that, in his view, the race for the presidency "has come to an end."
"George Bush will be the next president of the United States," said the New Jersey senator. "I'm certain that Al Gore will be gracious about it."
But Torricelli warned that Republican candidate Bush had a very difficult four years ahead bringing this country together and restoring the confidence of the American people in the presidency.
"People need to put this election behind them and do so quickly," the senator pointed out.
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