December 4, 2000

Florida Judge Rejects Gore Recount Plea
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls ruled on Monday that Al Gore failed to prove that a hand recount of thousands of contested ballots would overturn George W. Bush's certified lead in Florida's presidential election. "In conclusion, the court finds the plaintiffs (the vice president) have failed to carry the requisite burden of proof," Sauls said in a ruling he read from the bench – an opinion that Gore attorney David Boies immediately announced he would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Sauls' ruling capped a day of suspenseful legal developments in the nation's month-old election drama that involved the U.S. Supreme Court, the Florida Supreme Court, and finally, the trial court where the jurist with the southern drawl presided over a hurry-up trial.

Florida Judge Rejects Gore Election Challenge
Reuters
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida judge rejected on Monday Democrat Al Gore's legal challenge to the certified result of the presidential election in Florida that gave a razor-thin victory to Republican George W. Bush. Dismissing Gore's bid for a recount of thousands of disputed ballots, Judge N. Sanders Sauls of the Leon County Circuit Court said the Democrats had ``failed to carry their requisite burden of proof'' in the case. His ruling was likely to be appealed immediately to the Florida Supreme Court.

They Won, We Lost, Boies Says
By Larry Neumeister / The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls on Monday rejected Al Gore's request for a manual recount of thousands of contested ballots in Florida's presidential election, and refused the vice president's request to overturn George W. Bush's certified statewide victory. The vice president "failed to carry the requisite burden of proof" in the unprecedented legal challenge to Bush's 537-vote certified victory, Sauls said in a ruling that Gore's lawyers appealed even before the crowd cleared from his courtroom. "They won. We lost. We're appealing," said attorney David Boies, who represents the vice president.

Supreme Court Sets Aside Fla. Ruling
By Walter R. Mears / The Associated Press
The U.S. Supreme Court set aside the Florida Supreme Court decision on Monday that had let hand-counted ballots narrow George W. Bush's lead over Al Gore. The unsigned decision sets aside the Florida rulings and means Bush's lead stands while the vice president pursues more votes in a state court contest he hopes will put him over the top. "After reviewing the opinion of the Florida Supreme Court, we find that there is considerable uncertainty as to the precise grounds for the decision," the court wrote.

U.S. Supreme Court Orders New State Ruling On Bush-Gore Battle
By Michael Kirkland / UPI
WASHINGTON (UPI) - The Supreme Court of the United States Monday unanimously ordered the Florida Supreme Court to say why it extended the state's deadline for a final vote tally. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out the earlier state court ruling and told the Florida Supreme Court to give it another try. The justices indicated they do not have enough information to rule whether the earlier state ruling violated federal law or the U.S. Constitution. "After reviewing the opinion of the Florida Supreme Court, we find that there is considerable uncertainty as to the precise grounds for the decision," the U.S. Supreme Court said, citing a 1940 precedent. "This is sufficient reason for us to decline at this time to review the federal questions asserted to be present." The U.S. Supreme Court decision is not a victory for either Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who challenged the state court ruling under federal law and the U.S. Constitution, or for Vice President Al Gore, who wanted the nation's highest court either to dismiss the challenge or uphold the state court.

Text Of Supreme Court Opinion
Supreme Court Of The United States
George W. Bush, Petitioner v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board Et Al.

Earlier News Articles...

Judge Sauls To Render Decision Early Today
By Bill Sammon / The Washington Times
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Attorneys for Al Gore and George W. Bush last night raced through closing arguments in the dramatic conclusion of an urgent trial over the vice president's lawsuit to overturn the outcome of the election. A ruling in the matter was expected today. Leon County Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls adjourned the two-day, 23-hour trial at 10:44 p.m. With the Dec. 12 deadline for the selection of Florida's 25 electors looming, Gore lawyers desperately need an immediate recount of thousands of ballots from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. "At this time counsel, I must tell you: A case well tried —and argued," Judge Sauls told both sides. "And I suppose what I should do at this time is I'll take it under submission. And I'll give you a decision in the morning."

Lawmakers Poised For Special Session
By Vickie Chachere / The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- While Florida House leaders barrel ahead with plans for a special session to pick presidential electors, Senate leaders are moving cautiously, wary of appearing too eager to choose the country's next leader. House Speaker Tom Feeney plans to sign a proclamation Monday declaring a special session designed for the Republican-led Legislature to appoint a slate of electors for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. But new Senate President John McKay says he won't sign the document until he carefully reviews a legislative committee's final report recommending such a session.

News Of Session Travels Via Grapevine
By Nancy Cook Lauer / The Tallahassee Democrat
House Majority Leader Mike Fasano - reported early Saturday evening as the source of the information that a special session would be called for Wednesday - said he might have been misunderstood by reporters. "I told them that Speaker Feeney had made it clear that he had every intention of signing a proclamation on Monday for a session to begin Wednesday, but that's all I said," Fasano said. "I can't speak for President McKay. I just can't do that." Earlier, Fasano said: "He plans on signing a proclamation Monday which will say that there should be a special session Wednesday. He's been in contact with the president of the Senate. I trust my speaker and I know him well and when he tells me he plans on signing a proclamation Monday, that's a very good indication of what's going to happen . . . The clock is running out as we get closer to December the 12th."

First Test Hardest For New Lawmakers
By Gary Fineout / The Gainesville Sun
TALLAHASSEE -- The fate of the U.S. presidential election may be decided by dozens of state lawmakers who don't yet know how to sponsor a bill, make a motion - or even know where their office is located in the halls of the Florida Capitol. But that session will feature many newcomers, some of whom have never held elected office.

Ugly Tactics Put Stress On Electors
By Steve Miller / The Washington Times
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Carole Jean Jordan, one of 25 Republican Florida presidential electors, got an e-mail so disturbing she turned it over to Vero Beach police as evidence. "It was ugly, threatening," Miss Jordan said. "It was telling me I would be sorry for this." The Florida election battlefield is spreading into the homes of these Republicans, who are pledged to make official the presidential election of George W. Bush when the Electoral College meets Dec. 18.

Jeb Bush Might Have The Final Say In Presidency
By Ronald Brownstein / Los Angeles Times
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- After avoiding the spotlight for three weeks, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is being thrust inexorably toward a more central role in his brother's struggle for the state. As the Republican-controlled state Legislature moves toward intervention in the dispute, the prospect is growing that the governor soon may sign unprecedented legislation to directly award Florida's 25 electoral votes to his brother George W. Bush.

House Leadership Quietly Prepares To Choose A President
By Sean Scully And Audrey Hudson / The Washington Times
House leaders are quietly preparing for the unlikely — but not unimaginable — possibility that Congress will be called on to settle the contested presidential election. If the House must pick a president, each state would get one vote. Republicans control enough state delegations, or have enough crossover Democrat votes, to provide at least 28 votes for Mr. Bush, making him the next president. The Senate would then be called upon to chose a vice president. Since the chamber will likely be split evenly between the parties, there is a possibility that the Senate could name Democrat hopeful Joseph I. Lieberman as vice president. A 50-50 tie in the Senate would be broken by Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore, giving Mr. Lieberman a theoretical chance of becoming Mr. Bush's vice president.

Senator: Gore May Be Seeking Vice-Presidency Under Bush
By Christopher Ruddy / NewsMax.com
Congress is abuzz with a story that may have seemed fanciful a month ago, or even a week ago – but as Al Gore continues to battle for the Oval Office – Congressional Republicans fear it may be true. There is a growing fear among Republican leaders and the Bush camp that Al Gore, if he fails to wrest the presidency from Bush, may attempt to become vice-president.

Supreme Court Works on Saturday
By Laurie Asseo / The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- In a rare Saturday at work, the Supreme Court justices labored behind closed doors and pondered a Florida ruling that gave Al Gore more votes in his bid to overtake George W. Bush. All nine justices were at the court a day after hearing arguments in a historic case that will help decide whether Gore or Bush wins the White House. As always on Saturdays, the Supreme Court building was closed to the public, but the snack bar staff was called in to serve those who were working.

Supreme Court Considers 'Right' To Vote
By Frank J. Murray / The Washington Times
The Supreme Court's search for a verdict on Florida's election gridlock forces it to revisit the court's 1892 declaration that Americans have no fundamental right to vote in presidential elections. The high court must decide how to reconcile that unanimous and binding view of Article II, Section 1 — that only state legislatures may decide how presidential electors are selected — and the Florida Supreme Court ruling that the state Constitution bars the legislature from imposing "unreasonable or unnecessary" restraints on the right to vote.

Gephardt Echoes Clinton: FOIA Recount Will Torpedo Bush Victory
By Carl Limbacher / NewsMax.com
Echoing President Clinton, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt warned Sunday that contested presidential votes in Florida will be recounted under the Freedom of Information Act - even if Vice President Al Gore loses all his court challenges and Bush is certified president by the Electoral College.

Gore Poll Numbers Plummet
UPI
WASHIINGTON, UPI – Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush's favorable ratings have risen since Election Day and Democrat Vice President Al Gore's have dropped, according to a poll released Saturday. The poll, conducted Wednesday and Thursday by FOX News/Opinion Dynamics, also found 56 percent said Al Gore should concede the presidential election.

Supremes May Just Decide Not To Decide
By Maggie Mulvihill / Boston Herald
WASHINGTON -- As the nation waits for the Supreme Court, some legal scolars believe the nine justices might not rule on the presidential deadlock at all, but instead might just ``DIG'' it. In the high court's lingo, DIG stands for ``dismissed as improvidently granted.'' In other words, they could say that the case shouldn't even be before them. ``I think there is a good possibility they may sidestep the main issues,'' said U.S. Supreme Court scholar, Yale University Law Professor Akhil Amar yesterday.

Controversy Swirls Around Supreme Justice Breyer
DRUDGE REPORT
Justice Breyer, appointed by the Clinton/Gore administration, slipped during questioning and revealed just how Election 2000 has become a bitter battle split down partisan lines -- even inside of the land's highest court! Breyer stunned watchers inside of the courtroom as he grilled Joseph Klock, a lawyer for Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Justice Breyer framed the debate by stating: Whether we win, whether your side wins.

A Key Concern for Supreme Court: Avoiding Injury To Itself
By Linda Greenhouse / New York Times Service
WASHINGTON -- "The case is submitted," Chief Justice William Rehnquist said at the end of the argument, using the verbal formula that means the preliminaries are over and the work of producing a decision is about to begin. Now what? The Hippocratic injunction to "first, do no harm" applies to judges as well as to doctors, even though it is not engraved along with "Equal Justice Under Law" over the Supreme Court's pediment.

The Judicial-Activist State; It's Not just Florida
By Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review
New court rulings have been denounced as swiftly or as harshly as the Florida supreme court's decision on the night of November 21. At issue was a state statute establishing that within seven days of an election, the results are to be certified. In order to give three Florida counties time to complete their hand recounts of the presidential ballots, the court threw out the seven-day deadline and replaced it with a new one of its own devising.

Will Brethren Rule for Brethren to Protect All Courts?
By Dion Farganis and Gordon Silverstein / The Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Court watchers said the U.S. Supreme Court would never touch the Florida recount mess. They were wrong. Then the wise ones split: Some argued that the court was merely being courteous, lending its legitimacy to help move the country toward a resolution; others presented the case as another opportunity for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to add to his legacy of supporting states' rights.

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