Justice Antonin Scalia has offered up a stunning new definition of "irreparable harm" to a political candidate: the prospect that all the votes in an election will be counted.
If this contorted sort of thought is the product of a "brilliant legal mind," then our nation is in serious trouble indeed.
-- David Seppa
Any semblance of democracy died in the U.S.A. on Saturday afternoon, December 9th, at about 4 p.m. EST, in Washington, as it became apparent that Vice President Gore was gaining votes in the hand recount of Florida votes.
-- Jim Hawkins
I am a retired government attorney of 45 years' experience. I have handled cases involving constitutional law in the U.S. Courts of Appeal, so I recognize a genuine legal opinion on Constitutional law when I see one. Never, in my experience, or in reading judicial history, have I seen such a blatantly political decision as five Republican Supreme Court judges telling Florida to stop counting ballots for president in order to elect the Republican, George W. Bush.
If the Democrats get control of the Congress again, these five judges should be impeached and removed from office for their actions today. But what the five Supreme Court members have done has damaged the reputation of the Republic, our government, so badly, that people around the world will sneer at us for being unable to conduct an honest election. These five have sullied our reputation for having an honest government, honestly elected.
-- Harry Ellis
It's difficult to imagine how guessing at votes on ballots that have no explicitly obvious vote -- without consistent guidelines and with a bias for a specific outcome -- could produce an "accurate count of all the votes."
Truth is, the Democratic recount mantra of "count all the votes" is nothing more than a disingenuous mischaracterization designed to win popular support for a desperate attempt to overturn an officially certified election by any and all means possible.
-- Frank Hainze
Would that it were so simple to recount these ballots. If you are going to recount the ballots, you should recount all the votes. Part of the Bush camp's argument is equal protection under the law.
What an ugly mess. There would be no heartache here if Al Gore did the right thing from the start and contested the entire state's results, and asked for a hand recount. There would have been time enough for the legislature to come up with some decent standard. But that's what you get when you look to cut corners. Way to go, Al.
-- Charlene Kow
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