High Court Enters Election Dispute

Nov. 24 -- George W. Bush’s legal team faces an uphill battle in its efforts to have the U.S. Supreme Court weigh in on the Florida recount.

Lawyers for Bush on Wednesday appealed to the high court, asking the justices for a quick review of Tuesday’s Florida Supreme Court ruling that allowed manual recounts to be included in the state’s final vote tally. The Republican team also asked the court to bypass a federal appeals court and review a federal judge’s decision last week not to block the recount. Al Gore’s legal team has urged the justices to stay out of the Florida controversy, accusing the Bush camp of trying to federalize a state court dispute. Palm Beach County officials have also filed a brief, arguing that the court should not hear the caseFlorida Secretary of State Katherine Harris has weighed in with her own brief as well.

There’s no guarantee the court will accept the case, but if it does, the justices will face an array of unprecedented questions critical to the outcome of the presidential election.

Bush’s first obstacle is getting the court to hear arguments in the case. Four of the nine Supreme Court justices must agree to grant oral arguments. At issue is whether the justices will identify a pertinent question in the appeals pertaining to federal law or the Constitution.

“It is very unlikely the U.S. Supreme Court would getinvolved,” Stanford University constitutional law professorKathleen Sullivan said. “Number one, the issues are issues ofstate law. The law of chad is a state law issue, not a federal one.”

Looking for Precedent

But ABCNEWS legal consultant Jan Baran says the justices might take the case even if they don’t think they should get involved.

“The court has historically been very reluctant to get involved in election disputes,” he said. “But if there were ever extenuating circumstances this would be it. They might take the case just for purposes of deciding they shouldn’t get involved.”