Courts May Eliminate Push for Special Session

Dec. 5, 2000 -- In the wake of Monday’s court rulings, Florida’s Republican House speaker now believes it may be possible to avoid calling a special session to choose presidential electors.

Speaker Tom Feeney has been the most forceful advocate for the Republican-controlled Legislature to intervene in the disputed presidential race by naming a slate of electors, presumably for George W. Bush, to vote in the Electoral College on Dec. 18. But Feeney’s spokeswoman, Kim Stone, raised the possibility Monday that court rulings might render such a move unnecessary.

On Monday, the Gore campaign suffered two setbacks. First, the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a Florida Supreme Court ruling that had extended a deadline for ballot recounting.

Later, Leon County Circuit Court Judge N. Sanders Sauls rejected Al Gore’s request for a manual recount of some 14,000 questionable ballots from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.

Stone said her boss believes “there’s still enough uncertainty” to warrant a special session that would choose electors. But if courts settle the matter in favor of Bush, the point would be moot.

“If there’s no need for us we’re not going to step in. Right now we still feel as though there’s an imminent need for the legislature to intervene,” Stone said.

Feeney has indicated for days a desire to call a special session to to appoint electors.

Intervention as ‘A Last Resort?’

George W. Bush signaled strongly Monday that he’s in no rush to have Florida’s Legislature intervene.

“We ought to take this process one step at a time,” Bush said Monday during a brief meeting with reporters inside the governor’s mansionin Austin, Texas.

Polls have said that Americans would take a dim view to the Legislature intervening in the election, and some legislators have said they would prefer to stay out of it if they can.

“Most people think it’s a more pragmatic and politically savvy approach to make [intervention] be a last resort,” said Susan MacManus, professor of political science at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

But if they do choose to intervene, the Legislature could take the Supreme Court ruling as a hopeful sign, ABCNEWS legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said.

“The opinion in a general way nods to the importance of the legislature in the Electoral College process, so some in the legislature could take it as an invitation to get involved,’ he said.

If Senate President John McKay and Feeney agree to convene a special session, it will probably be just to consider and discuss issues, he said. Action might come next week.

In the Hot Seat

By picking a slate of electors to send its votes to Washington, the Legislature would presumably hand the presidency to Republican George W. Bush, brother of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — if such appointment withstood any legal challenges.

Florida’s 25 electoral votes would give either Bush or Democrat Al Gore the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Some Democrats and independent legal analysts say the legislative move may be unnecessary or possibly illegal because a winner already has been certified in Florida’s presidential race. Some believe the only way the Legislature can legally intervene under existing laws would be if on or after Dec. 12 there is no certified winner based upon votes cast on Election Day.

Bush was declared the winner in Florida on Nov. 26, although Gore is contesting that certification in court. Regardless, some say, there almost certainly will be a certified winner on the books as of Dec. 12. Others aren’t so sure, saying events could make the certification unclear.

Steve Uhlfelder of the public law department at Holland & Knight, Florida’s largest law firm, believes there is room for dissenting arguments on that point. But in any event, he says, it is unlikely that any existing state court case that could overturn Bush’s certification would be resolved by Dec. 12.

Congress Could Challenge It

Some say a court declaration of a new winner in Florida between Dec. 12 and 18 could create competing slates of electors from the state. That, or a later court reversal of Florida’s presidential election results, could prompt congressional challenges to the Electoral College vote after the newly elected U.S. Congress tallies it on Jan. 6.

If Florida does indeed send two sets of electors, both houses of Congress would have to be in agreement in order to pick among competing presidential claims. They also would have to be in agreement to reject a single claim and declare another candidate the winner.

Republicans will hold a narrow majority in the upcoming U.S. House of Representatives. However, the Senate will be evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Gore’s running mate.

Gore, in his role as the current president of the Senate, could conceivably cast a tie-breaking vote for himself to be president of the United States.

On the other hand, if the two houses of Congress can’t agree on a slate of electors, the valid slate would be the one with the endorsement of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of the Republican presidential candidate.

ABCNEWS.com’s Michael James and The Associated Press contributed to this report.