Florida High Court May Rule Today

After 30 days and countless twists, the presidential election Thursday pointed toward a dramatic day of decision in the last-gasp lawsuits aimed at overturning George W. Bush’s slim Florida victory.

The most important case rested with the seven justices of the Florida Supreme Court, who heard an hour of oral arguments in Al Gore’s bid to reverse Bush’s certified lead and force a count of several thousand disputed ballots.

The high court could rule quickly, even as early as today. Separately, verdicts were expected in two cases alleging GOP tampering with absentee ballot applications in Martin and Seminole counties.

If the judges throw out approximately 25,000 absentee ballots--the remedy sought by Democrats--Gore would easily surge past Bush, whose Florida margin is a mere 537 votes. But most legal experts considered that outcome a longshot, and Gore, while closely following the lawsuits, has refused to join the cases.

The state Legislature, meanwhile, prepared to open a special legislative session aimed at nullifying Gore’s legal challenge by unilaterally awarding Bush the state’s critical 25 electoral votes--enough to secure the White House regardless of what the courts decide.

As both sides stared at Tuesday’s constitutional deadline for Florida to seat its electors, the pace of events seemed to quicken.

The arguments before the high court were fast and lively, with each side given just 30 minutes to handle the justices’ rapid-fire questions.

David Boies, lead attorney for Gore, asserted Leon County Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls erred Monday by refusing to overturn Bush’s official victory and order a recount of roughly 14,000 disputed ballots. At the least, Boies said, Sauls should have reviewed some of the 1.1 million ballots in the courthouse vault before ruling.

“This is not a situation where you simply have someone coming in and saying, ‘We lost, we want another chance at it,’ ” Boies said. “This is a situation where we have identified specific votes . . . and they were not counted.”

But Barry Richard, lead attorney for Bush, said Sauls ruled correctly, mainly because the Gore team failed to prove the election results were in doubt. Richard chided them for putting on just two witnesses in the trial before Sauls.

“We had an absolute failure on the part of the plaintiffs here,” Richard said of Gore’s side. “It was an absolute failure . . . to establish an abuse of discretion by any of the challenged [election] canvassing boards.”

Gore watched the proceedings at home on television, along with his running mate, Joseph I. Lieberman. Behind the scenes, the vice president and his advisors prepared for a possible new round of legal battles, aimed at the GOP-run Florida Legislature.

Bush was in Austin, Texas, continuing work on his administration-in-waiting and saying he was too busy to pay any mind to the proceedings in Florida. He did acknowledge getting a briefing later from James A. Baker III, his Florida point man.

“I haven’t watched any of it,” Bush told reporters at the state Capitol. “I’ve been in meetings.”

But many other Americans, still captivated by the election cliffhanger, tuned into the live broadcast for 68 minutes of unscripted drama.

Boies stood first to address the high court. He had barely stated his name and mentioned Gore and Lieberman when Chief Justice Charles T. Wells interrupted with a question.

A key concern from the outset of the hearing was whether, under Florida law, a legal contest to an election must be applied statewide.

Gore wants just a recount of ballots in selected Democratic-leaning areas of South Florida. The justices wanted to know if the election would be “defective” if only selected manual recounts were included in the certification.

Boies said no, but Wells seemed troubled. He suggested a ruling for Gore could open the door for sore losers to seek endless recounts. Boies denied that, saying the specifics of this case were unique.

He said there were 215 ballots in Palm Beach County that a judge found had “a clear voter intent expressed.” And yet, Boies said, “they were not counted” in the final statewide tally.

Boies said there were 168 ballots in Miami-Dade County that were recounted before that canvassing board abruptly stopped recounting. In addition, there are 9,000 ballots that failed to register a presidential preference when run through Miami-Dade’s tabulation machines.

Justice Leander J. Shaw Jr. noted that Sauls found “there was no credible statistical evidence” the disputed ballots would tip the election to Gore. But Boies argued the ballots have to be counted to see if that is true.

Richard stood next before the high court. He too barely got his name out before he was peppered with questions. The chief justice wanted to know if the state Supreme Court had “the right” to review Judge Sauls’ ruling.

Richard said yes, but only in a very limited fashion. He said the courts have often ruled against these kinds of legal contests and special preference should not be given just because the White House is at stake.

“It doesn’t make any difference whether we’re talking about schoolteachers and laborers or presidents and kings,” he said. “The rules are the same.” He conceded that Sauls did not review any of the disputed ballots trucked to Tallahassee last week from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. But, he asserted, “there was no basis in law for the trial court to do that until [Gore] had carried its burden of proving that there was some necessity to do so.”

Justice Barbara Pariente asked if there was a “reasonable probability of a change” in the final tally if the disputed ballots were counted, or could it even change the election outcome?

Richard said neither. “There was no evidence of any single voting machine that misoperated,” he said. “There was no evidence of any voter whose vote was not properly recorded.”

In a brief rebuttal, Boies asserted there was still time to recount the disputed ballots, even with the deadline for Florida to seat its electors now just four days away.

“Obviously, time is getting very short,” Boies said. “We have been trying to get these ballots counted, as this court knows, for many weeks now.”

Afterward, Gore attorneys said they were pleased with the hearing but declined to say what they would do if the court rules against them. While holding out the possibility of an appeal in federal court, attorney W. Dexter Douglass said the ultimate decision is up to Gore.

“Obviously, what goes forward at any time is in the hands of our clients,” Douglass said. “The client makes final decisions.”

Earlier this week, Gore suggested the Florida Supreme Court would be the termination point of his appeals. Boies said much the same thing Thursday, calling the Florida Supreme Court the “final arbiter.” But he hinted there may be other appeals beyond the one just argued.

He said the Gore team could file a lawsuit if the Legislature votes to directly appoint the slate of electors already certified for Bush.

The Florida Legislature is set to begin its special session at noon today. Republican leaders expect it will take four days to pass a joint resolution in the House and Senate directly appointing the electoral college delegates.

The resolution will be read in both chambers and then referred to committees. The Legislature is not scheduled to meet over the weekend but will reconvene Monday and may debate the measure on Tuesday, said Kim Stone, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Tom Feeney.

The measure should pass easily, both sides say. Republican lawmakers outnumber Democrats 77-43 in the House and 25-15 in the Senate and at least one Democratic legislator from a conservative district has indicated he will cross party lines to support the measure.

Lawmakers on both sides have said it will take a bill--not a resolution--to ensure that the slate of electors pledged to Bush is seated. A bill would require the signature of Gov. Jeb Bush, the younger brother of George W. Bush, who has so far tried to stay out of the election dispute.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Jeb Bush sought to distance himself from the maneuvering, even as he defended the decision to proceed with a special session.

“My personal opinion is that the Legislature had to call this, because they had to do it in advance of [Tuesday] to see what’s going to happen,” Bush said. “But my guess is that this will all be decided before then.

“To me it’s not political. It’s bigger than that.”

*

Times staff writers Michael Finnegan, Megan Garvey and Jeffrey Gettleman contributed to this story.

To listen to Thursday’s Florida Supreme Court hearing and read a full transcript, go to:https://www.latimes.com/decision2000

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Day 30: A Summary

Developments Thursday in the unsettled presidential election:

COURTS

* In Tallahassee, Al Gore’s lawyer pleaded with Florida’s Supreme Court justices to order manual recounts. George W. Bush’s attorneys said Bush is the election’s rightful winner.

* Separate trials ended in two Tallahassee courtrooms, the question before the judges being whether to throw out 25,000 absentee ballots in Martin and Seminole Counties. Republicans were allowed to correct absentee ballot applications in both places, but Democrats say violated state law.

* Democrats argued before a federal judge in Tallahassee that about 2,400 overseas ballots should be rejected because they arrived in Florida after election day.

LEGISLATURE

* Lawmakers prepared for today’s opening of a special session, where Republicans seek to ensure that Florida’s presidential electors vote for Bush.

THE CANDIDATES

* In Austin, Texas, Bush kept a low profile at the governor’s mansion and the capitol. He talked about his presidential transition with advisors and posed for pictures with statehouse interns.

* At his home in Washington, Gore watched the Florida Supreme Court hearing on television with his wife, Tipper, running mate Joseph I. Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah. Then they went to lunch.

Source: Associated Press, Times staff