The US Supreme Court on Tuesday barred vote recounts in Florida, in a momentous late-night ruling clearing the way for George W. Bush to become the 43rd president of the United States.
In a fiendishly complex ruling, the nine justices of the nation's highest court reversed a decision by Florida Supreme Court to order hand re-tallies of disputed presidential ballots.
The move, made after 34 tense hours of deliberations following a historic court hearing on Monday, all but crushed Al Gore's dreams of reaching the White House through a forest of litigation which sprouted after November's election.
In an unsigned opinion, the nine justices ruled on a 5-4 split that recount procedures mandated by the Florida Supreme Court were unconstitutional as they violated an amendment to the constitution guaranteeing equal protection to every vote.
Remanding the case back to Florida's highest court, the justices ruled that since no remedy was possible by Tuesday's deadline for naming the electors who will select the next president, a recount could not go ahead.
"Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet the December 12 date will be unconstitutional ... we reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida ordering a recount to proceed," the justices said in their judgment.
Gore, 52, had pinned his hopes on a recount of votes, believing such a move could help him overtake the Texas governor's razor-thin margin of victory.
He now appears to have little option but to concede the election.
If a Bush victory is confirmed, it would give the Texas governor, the son of former president George Bush, Florida's vital 25 electoral votes and a total of 271 electoral votes countrywide -- one more than the total needed to win the presidency. Gore would have 267 votes.
There was no immediate comment from either of the two rivals who have engaged in a tumultuous battle through the courts of Florida and Washington for five weeks over the disputed election.
But Bush campaign spokesman James Baker told reporters that the Texas governor was "very pleased and gratified" with the Supreme Court decision.
The leader of Gore's Democratic Party meanwhile called on him to concede following the court's judgement.
"He should act now and concede," Democratic National Committee Chairman Ed Rendell told MSNBC television.
The nine justices had voted by a 5-4 split decision on Saturday to halt manual recounts of more than 40,000 disputed ballots ordered by the Florida Supreme Court on Friday pending Monday's hearing on the issue.
Bush, the Texas governor, enjoys a scant 537-vote edge out of more than six million ballots cast in the presidential contest in Florida five weeks ago. Gore insists that hand recounts would show he won the southeastern state.
Shutting off Gore's only other avenue to the White House, the Florida Supreme Court earlier Tuesday threw out appeals seeking the invalidation of some 25,000 absentee ballots in Seminole and Martin counties, most of which went to Bush.
In the November 7 election, Texas governor Bush, 54, carried the state by 1,700 votes, according to the first machine count, a margin so small a second count was mandated.
Gore, who had conceded the election early on November 8, changed his mind when the closeness of the tally became apparent, and after the second machine count he was behind by a mere 327 votes.
Boosted by the inclusion of overseas ballots, Bush's lead rose to 930, but by the time the total was officially certified on November 26 to include some hand recounts, Bush's lead was again down, to 537 votes.
The vice president, who won the nationwide vote by 300,000 ballots out of more that 100 million cast on election night, launched his official challenge, or contest of the election results, the following day.
In a bitter blow, Florida's Leon County Circuit Court Judge Sanders Sauls threw out Gore's case in its entirety on December 4. However, the Florida's Supreme Court threw the vice president a lifeline, upholding his appeal against Sauls' decision and ordering recounts of more than 40,000 disputed ballots on Friday.
Only three times in the history of the United States has the winner of the popular vote lost the presidential election. Should Bush be confirmed as president, it will be the fourth time -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
