At 10:42 AM 11/9/00 -0500, you wrote:
>I just posted something to another list on what I think is going to
>happen - below is a slightly edited version of what I wrote...
>
>Having talked to a friend of mine who is a Prof. at Harvard Law, I'd
>suggest
>that anyone who's interested start looking at the election of 1876.
>It
>seems to be the closest precedent to this case. There are, so far as
>I am
>aware, virtually no precedents for a revote. The legal test to
>institute
>one is so extraordinarily high that it is virtually impossible that
>one
>will occur. The odds of one happening are almost zero. We know who
>will decide
>the election - the Electoral College. The problem is that we (may)
>have a
>disputed slate of electors from FL. In 1876 this was resolved by a
>bipartisan
>commission that, unfortunately, voted 5-4 on party lines. The
>Democrats
>and Republicans then made a trade - the GOP got the White House, and
>in return,
>the Democrats got the end of Reconstruction and the removal of
>Northern soldiers
>from the Southern states. Given the tradition of judicial deference
>to the
>legislative branch on such matters, it seems most likely that this
>will end
>up in a similar Congressional commission.
>
>********************Gautam "Ulysses" Mukunda**********************
>* Harvard College Class of '01 *He either fears his fate too much*
>* www.fas.harvard.edu/~mukunda * Or his deserts are small, *
>* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Who dares not put it to the touch*
>* "Freedom is not Free" * To win or lose it all. *
>******************************************************************
I agree that the 1876 election is a very close parallel. However, the 12th
Amendment refers to the President being selected by a majority of electors
*appointed*. If somehow Florida's electors were not certified (an unlikely
proposition, but not impossible), then Gore would have the necessary
majority in the Electoral College to be elected President.
john
