Lawyers for George W. Bush, in a late brief filed Friday with the Florida Supreme Court, shifted their position on a key jurisdictional question in the presidential election dispute.
Analysts had been surprised that Bush attorney Barry Richard had in oral arguments Thursday before the seven justices quickly conceded that the Florida high court had authority to review the appeal by Al Gore's campaign.
But in the brief filed Friday, the lawyers said they were clarifying their position, contending that the Supreme Court had no authority to grant the request sought by Gore to order further recounts.
The Bush team shifted its stand on a key technical argument, and now maintain the state Supreme Court's right to appellate review should not apply in this case, because it comes from the state constitution, rather than from state law and the US Constitution.
"It is absolutely clear under Florida and federal law that this Court does not have authority to grant the relief sought" by the Gore campaign, the brief reads.
It said the Gore lawyers' request to order further ballot review and, if it changes the outcome, to order a slate of electors for Gore, would violate "both the federal Constitution and federal statute."
"This judicially selected slate of Presidential electors would not be validly chosen and, unlike the presently certified slate of electors, their votes would not be conclusive," the brief said.
In a reply brief, Gore's lawyers noted that Bush's attorneys had in oral arguments accepted the notion of jurisdiction by the court, and argued that "the conclusion could not be otherwise."
"Judicial review of contested ballots is a longstanding principle of Florida law," the Gore lawyers wrote, adding that the same law applied to both federal and state elections in Florida.
"Because the contest statute does not expressly preclude judicial review, this court has the authority under Florida law to exercise its traditional appellate jurisdiction to decide this matter," the Gore lawyers concluded.
The justices were deliberating Friday on the Gore request, an appeal of a state circuit court ruling that denied his request to challenge the certification of Bush as the winner in Florida and order further review of ballots -- TALLAHASSEE (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
