If the US Supreme Court doesn't allow the manual recounts of disputed presidential ballots in Florida, Democrat Al Gore's challenge to George W. Bush's election victory is essentially over, the vice president's top lawyer said Sunday.
"If there are no votes counted, that is, if somehow Florida is told don't count the votes that were cast, I think that's the end of the road in terms of contesting the election, because the only way to contest the election is to count the votes," David Boies told "Fox News Sunday."
The nation's highest court, in a 5-4 decision on Saturday, dealt a stunning blow to Gore's White House aspirations, halting recounts of tens of thousands of disputed ballots across Florida ordered just one day earlier by the state's Supreme Court.
The US high court was to hear arguments Monday to determine whether to allow a hand-tally of ballots in Florida, a recount which could erode Republican White House hopeful George W. Bush's miniscule lead in the southeastern state and hand the state's electors -- and the US presidency -- to Gore.
Asked on ABC's "This Week" talk show whether the end was near, Boies said: "I don't think it's all over, at least until Monday." But US Supreme Court "has the power to stop the counting if it decides to do so."
Boies expressed doubt that a manual recount, if allowed by the US Supreme Court, could be completed by Tuesday, the deadline for US states to name their representatives to the Electoral College, which will meet December 18 to select the next US president.
"Whether it's going to be possible to get those votes counted by December 12, given the interruption, I think it's a little less clear than it was before," he noted on Fox.
"On the other hand, remember that in the roughly six hours that the counting of the votes took place (Saturday), a very large amount of progress was made. If the count had continued yesterday afternoon and this morning, that count would be largely completed, with possibly the exception of one or two counties that were outside of the Tallahassee area."
On ABC, he blamed Republicans for having "thrown up one obstacle after another" to the counting process which he stressed needed to be done, because "Democracy works best when people have more knowledge rather than less" -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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