The US Supreme Court dealt a stunning blow to Al Gore's White House hopes Saturday, halting recounts of Florida ballots and agreeing to hear George W. Bush's case against a state court ruling allowing such new tallies.
In a 5-4 split decision that mirrored profound national divisions over the inconclusive November 7 presidential election, the nine justices in Washington also set an 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) Monday session for oral arguments.
Analysts noted that agreeing to hear the Republican Texas governor's case did not mean the court would necessarily strike down the Florida Supreme Court's Friday decision to order manual recounts of tens of thousands of ballots. But with time at a premium, the future of any hand recount was unclear.
Gore lead lawyer David Boies said the ruling was "obviously one we disagree with." But the Bush camp celebrated.
James Baker, a top advisor to Bush, said: "I have just spoken to Governor Bush and of course we are pleased."
The Florida high court ruling had breathed new life into the Democratic vice president's fading hopes of wresting the decisive state -- and thus the White House -- from Bush, who enjoys a razor-thin certified lead that the recounts could wipe out.
Before it was suspended, the partial recount gave Gore a net gain of 58 votes statewide, putting him "clearly on a path to pull ahead" in the presidential race, Gore advisor Ron Klain said.
In written arguments to the US Supreme Court seeking a halt to the recounts, which they have long tarred as illegal, Bush lawyers charged that failure to stop the process in its tracks would "irreparably harm the entire electoral process."
Gore lawyers, in their written response, scoffed at the "surprising assertion ... that a candidate for public office can irreparably be harmed by the process of discerning and tabulating the will of the voters."
The decision was the second time the high court has weighed in on the tumultuous events of the last 32 days, in which both candidates have fought tooth and nail for Florida's decisive 25 votes in the Electoral College that will pick the 43rd president.
The ruling was announced minutes after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Florida rejected Bush's request that it halt recounts but ordered state election officials not to certify the results of such tallies until the US Supreme Court hears the case. Earlier, the Florida Supreme Court had also reflected Bush's petition to halt the counts.
The US Supreme Court decision froze a statewide effort to recount more than 40,000 so-called "undervotes" -- ballots on which machines recorded no choice for president.
The mammoth undertaking had begun early Saturday with a court-set target completion time of 2:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) Sunday, but lurched to a halt on the high court's command.
The Florida Supreme Court ruling Friday overturned a lower court's rejection of Gore's challenges to certified state results and had dashed Bush's hopes the month-long courtroom battle would end this weekend with the vice president conceding defeat.
The high court also pared Bush's razor-thin lead to just over 150 votes by ordering the inclusion of previous recounts that were incomplete or rejected by Florida election officials.
The vice president on Saturday kept a low profile at his official Washington residence, making phone calls to friends and supporters, a senior aide said.
In formal objections filed in Leon County Circuit Court here, the Bush team said Judge Terry Lewis' late Friday order to begin the recount in 64 of Florida's 67 counties and complete it by Sunday violated numerous federal laws and the US Constitution.
"What is about to transpire in counting rooms all across the state of Florida is chaos," the lawyers said in a blunt memorandum of law.
Four teams of two judges each had started counting the Miami-Dade ballots, which have been in Tallahassee since December 1 after being impounded by the court.
Gore faces a string of legal hurdles in his desperate race against time.
Florida's Republican-held legislature Friday named 25 Bush supporters as the state's electoral slate and said they would send them to Washington if the legal wrangling is not over by the December 12 statutory deadline for picking electors.
Neither candidate can win the 270 votes needed to become president without Florida's 25 electors -- TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
