US Supreme Court Hears Recount Appeal

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Dateline: 12/10/00 [Decision Issued December 12, 2000]

On Monday, Dec. 11, at 11:00 am EST, the U.S. Supreme Court will listen to oral arguments on George W. Bush's appeal to the Dec. 8 ruling of the Florida Supreme Court ordering manual recounts of over 43,000 contested Florida ballots. A decision in Bush's favor would permanently halt further recounts. (The case is Bush v. Gore - No. 00-949)

• Transcript of Today's Hearing -- Bush v. Gore
(Requires the free Adobe Acrobat .pdf reader. Get it here.)
• US Supreme Court Web Site - Related Documents

Only hours after Florida counties began the recounts on Saturday, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to stop them and agreed to hear the Bush appeal being argued today.

• View or download US Supreme Court order halting recounts
(Requires the free Adobe Acrobat .pdf reader. Get it here.)

Voting to halt the recounts were Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Sandra Day O'Connor. Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented. [See: Justices of the Supreme Court]

The Court's Majority Says
In a rare "concurrence," a statement intended to summarize the opinions of those justices in favor of the court's action, Justice Scalia stated, "It suffices to say that the issuance of the stay suggests that a majority of the Court, while not deciding the issues presented, believe that the petitioner has a substantial probability of success."

Of the Florida Supreme Court's decision to order the recounts, Justice Scalia writes, "The counting of votes that are of questionable legality does, in my view, threaten irreparable harm to petitioner [George W. Bush] and to the country, by casting a cloud upon what he claims to be the legitimacy of his election. Count first and rule upon legality afterwards, is not a recipe for producing election results that have the public acceptance that democratic stability requires."

The Court's Minority Says
However, Justice Stevens in the court's opposing, or dissenting, opinion wrote, "Preventing the recount from being completed will inevitably cast a cloud on the legitimacy of the election."

In reference to the action of the Florida Supreme Court, Justice Stevens writes, "It is certainly not clear that the Florida decision violated federal law. The Florida Code provides elaborate procedures for ensuring that every eligible voter has a full and fair opportunity to cast a ballot and that every ballot so cast is counted." Justice Stevens continues, "... the Florida court's ruling reflects the basic principle, inherent in our Constitution and our democracy, that every legal vote should be counted."

Monday's hearing in Bush v. Gore will be the second time the U.S. Supreme Court's has chosen to involve itself in the disputed presidential election. On Monday, Dec. 3, the court vacated and remanded -- sent back for clarification -- an earlier decision of the Florida Supreme Court allowing the state's vote recounts to proceed beyond the Nov. 14 deadline for certification of votes set by the state legislature. [See: Bush Campaign's Supreme Court Appeal]

The Supreme Court's decision on December 3 could have decided the election, but it did not. The court's decision in the case argued today is considered even more likely to decide the election. Will it?

Next page > What's In the Balance? > Page 1, 2, 3, 4