Supreme Court deals blow to Gore efforts

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set aside a state high court ruling that allowed selective manual recounts in Florida's contested presidential election between Al Gore and George

Monday, December 4th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set aside a state high court ruling that allowed selective manual recounts in Florida's contested presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush, and sent the case back ``for further proceedings.''

Within hours, the state court relayed word it was back at work on the case.

``The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. We do not ignore what they tell us,'' said spokesman Craig Waters, standing on the steps outside the State Supreme Court building in Tallahassee.

In Austin, Texas, Bush welcomed the ruling as ``a very strong statement on our behalf.''

``Americans ought to be comforted that the highest court in the land'' is working to ensure ``a fair outcome,'' Bush said.

Florida's electoral votes have been ascertained as belonging to Bush, according to an official Certificate of Ascertainment, filed with the National Archives Federal Register. The ascertainment is on public record in the National Archives website.

Asked whether Gore should concede, Bush said, ``It's a very difficult decision for any of us to make. ... The vice president is going to have to make the decisions he thinks are necessary''

The high court's ruling also reverberated in the Florida trial court where Gore was seeking to have Bush's certified victory in Florida overturned. There, Judge N. Sanders Sauls served notice he would delay his own ruling while he determines whether the opinion has any impact on the case before him.

In a seven-page unsigned, unanimous opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court said it was ``unclear'' what reasoning the state justices used in a ruling last month that granted Gore's request for manual recounts to proceed in a few Democratic-leaning counties. The court said it had ``sufficient reason for us to decline at this time to review the federal questions asserted to be present.''

In the meantime, the court said the state supreme court's ruling was ``vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings.''

In reply a few hours later, Waters told reporters in Florida the ``the court now has the matter under advisement and will determine how it will proceed.''

He said he had no additional details.

But his comments underscored the breakneck pace of legal developments in a dispute at the heart of the extraordinary race for the White House.

The practical impact of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling was unclear in Florida, where Bush was certified the winner by 537 votes 10 days ago, and where Gore has been waging a battle ever since to overturn that certification.

Gore attorney Laurence Tribe said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling simply preserves the status quo, though time is running short for the Democrat.

``Although it is a slowdown, it is not critical if the ultimate decision is to start to count,'' Tribe said.

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, speaking for the Bush team, later said the ruling was a win for them. He said the nation's high court had returned the case to the state courts, to be reviewed along the lines of ``precisely what we argued.''

The action was not a ruling for Bush on the merits of his appeal. But by setting aside the Florida Supreme Court's ruling, it could place in doubt the gains Gore made through the hand recount in the days after Nov. 14. That was the original deadline for certification set by Secretary of State Katherine Harris before the state Supreme Court ordered her to accept updated results for several more days.

The court said it was not certain to what extent the Florida court saw the state constitution as limiting state lawmakers' authority to choose presidential electors, or how much consideration it gave to an 1887 federal law that makes states' choice of presidential electors binding on Congress as long as disputes were resolved under laws enacted before the election.

``The judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida is therefore vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion,'' the justices said.

The court held a dramatic argument session Friday after agreeing a week earlier to hear Bush's appeal of the Florida court ruling, which extended the deadline for reporting recount results from Nov. 14 to Nov. 26.

The justices had appeared deeply divided over whether there were grounds to overrule the state court.

Bush's lawyer, Theodore Olson, argued that the Florida Supreme Court's decision to allowed the extended recount ``overturned the carefully enacted plan'' by state legislators for resolving election disputes.

He contended the state court violated the Constitution and an 1887 federal law that makes states' choice of presidential electors binding on Congress as long as disputes were resolved under laws enacted before the election.

Gore lawyer Tribe said the recount process merely was ``like looking more closely at the film of a photo finish. It's nothing extraordinary.'' He added, ``Why tell people the count if you won't count it?''

To read the text version of the United States Supreme Court's opinion, click here.