Word: recounting
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...with justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissenting, the court held per curiam that "there are constitutional problems" with the Florida Supreme Court's decision. By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that, in effect, there was nothing more the Florida court could do to fairly recount the state's ballots without disrupting the electoral process...
...Tuesday night at 10 p.m. the nation's highest court released its much-anticipated opinion concerning the hand recount of Florida's undervotes. And for the next 45minutes, the nation's leading legal experts fumbled around with the Court's language, trying to decipher the underlying message in the ruling...
...simplest terms possible, the Court reversed the Florida Supreme Court decision; seven Justices (Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist, Kennedy, O'Connor, and, with reservations, Breyer and Souter) agreed there were constitutional problems with the recount ordered by the Florida court - specifically the requirements of due process and equal protection. Justices Stevens and Ginsberg argued the case should never have been accepted by the Court...
Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and O'Connor ruled the recount is impossible within the time restraints of the "safe harbor" statute in Florida election law, which requires electors to be chosen by December 12. The dissenters wrote blistering arguments against the majority opinion, maintaining there is a possibility for a recount before a December 18 deadline. The dissents included this passage by Justice Stevens: "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year? s Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation' s confidence in the judge...
...curiam decision, the Justices also remanded the case back to the state high court with an a cryptic message: "Upon due consideration of the difficulties identified to this point, it is obvious that the recount cannot be conducted in compliance with the requirements of equal protection and due process without substantial additional work." That work would require the creation of uniform standards for vote counts, the Court explained, as well as time allowing judicial review of those standards. Many observers read that as an indication that there was no way to finish a recount by the December 12 "safe harbor...