-Caveat Lector-
November 16, 2000
Election 2000
Florida Court Ruling in 1998 Stressed Voter Intent as Key Reason
to Recount
By ROBERT S.REENBERGER and JESS BRAVIN
Staff Reporters
WALL STREET JOURNAL
If both sides in the nation's disputed presidential race end up
in Florida's Supreme Court, Democrats might take heart from the
inlaid Latin motto on the courthouse floor: Sat Cito Si Recte --
or "Soon Enough If Done Rightly."
The ancient maxim sounds much like Vice President Al Gore's
argument that the ballot recounting should be done quickly -- but
also must be done carefully. If Mr. Gore prevails, it wouldn't
be the first time Florida's high court has adopted that position.
In a 1998 ruling in another election-law case that involved
absentee ballots, the court emphasized that the most important
reason for ordering the examining of ballots is to determine the
intent of the voters.
The Tallahassee, Fla., courthouse may play a major role in
determining the new president. Wednesday, Texas Gov. George W.
Bush sought to join a lawsuit filed by Florida Secretary of State
Katherine Harris asking for consolidation of the proliferation of
election lawsuits in Florida. The court Wednesday swung into
action for the first time in the Florida imbroglio, rejecting
another request by Ms. Harris, that it call a halt to the hand
counting of certain ballots.
Warren Christopher, President Clinton's former secretary of state
who is representing Mr. Gore, Wednesday had criticized Ms.
Harris's request and said he, too, would ask the court to take
jurisdiction over a number of lawsuits involving hand counts.
Of course, it is impossible to predict if and how the state's
Supreme Court will rule, but Democrats have found reasons to hope
for a sympathetic hearing in Tallahassee. Six of the court's
seven members were appointed by Democratic governors -- and the
seventh was named jointly by a Democrat and Gov. Jeb Bush, a
brother of the Republican presidential contender, George W.
Bush.
The court has shown in the past that it will protect its turf,
despite political pressure. Earlier this year, legislators
approved new death-penalty procedures designed to speed up
executions, and Gov. Jeb Bush endorsed them. But the state's
high court rejected the measures, citing an "unconstitutional
encroachment" on its "exclusive power" to determine court
procedures.
Still, even Republicans say Florida's Supreme Court justices are
high quality and nonideological. "They are a somewhat more
conservative court than they were a few years back; they are an
honorable group of very distinguished jurists," says Tom Slade, a
national Republican committee member and former GOP state party
chairman. "Given the potential impact of their opinion," he
says, "they won't be inclined to play politics."
State Sen. Steven A. Geller, a Broward County Democrat whose
brother is chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, says,
"You would think that since they were primarily appointed by
Democrats, they'd be a liberal court. You'd be wrong." Most of
the justices, he notes, were appointed by former Gov. Lawton
Chiles, "a very conservative Democrat."
What's more, even though Florida's Supreme Court justices stand
for election, the state's system is designed to insulate them
from having to participate in politics. Under Florida law, the
justices must stand for election in the first general election
that takes place more than one year after their appointment.
After that, they face the voters every six years in a retention
election.
Gerald Kogan, a former chief justice who retired from the court
in 1998, says, "There have only been a few times in the last few
years in which they've had to raise funds" for re-election.
So it's unlikely that the justices will be thinking about job
security when they consider any case involving the presidential
election. "The retention votes are a sham," contends Joseph
Little, a law professor at the University of Florida's College of
Law in Gainesville. "Nobody ever loses; it's the equivalent of
lifetime employment."
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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