Word: verdicts
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...television and the nation, Tuesday was literally Judgment Day, and the Supreme Court steps in Washington were the hill of Megiddo. And Revelation-style, the 65-page verdict in Bush v. Gore came like a thief in the night. It was hustled by network runners, around 10 p.m., into the waiting hands of TV's star reporting talent. Bundled in overcoats and parkas, the stand-ups were trembling, probably not just because of the cold. Here was the money shot, the final score they'd waited through five weeks of overtime to call...
Imagine that there were riots in Los Angeles right now just like the ones that we saw after the Rodney King verdict. Suppose that in the face of what people saw as a travesty of justice, they took to the streets and smashed stores and offices and attacked the police (which they did in L.A.). Now imagine that in response, the United States called in the army to restore order, firing on civilians with live ammunition, and using Apache helicopters and anti-tank missiles to destroy neighborhoods. Would anyone think this was reasonable? Would anyone blame the rioters...
...delayed verdict...
...That's a tough sell. Judges, particularly within one state, are generally uneasy about passing down what could be perceived as a personal verdict - in which one court takes another to task for essentially misunderstanding the law. But that's just what the Gore team hopes the Florida high court will do, and in briefs presented Wednesday, David Boies et al. have outlined their logic: Because Judge Sauls based his ruling on cases from 1974 and 1982 - precedents that were overwritten by another case less than a year ago, in a decision easing the prerequisites for a recount - his decision...
...same questions might be asked about the entire Clinton experience, of course - applying those questions to both Clinton and the Clinton haters. I have had a dozen college students in recent months tell me that "Clinton has been a great president." Do they mean "great" as a historical verdict, in the way they would say that Lincoln was a great president? Or "great" as in "that was a great movie." Both, actually. They do not quite see the difference between Lincoln and a great movie...