[November 25, 2000]
I just heard an interesting point on TV, to the effect that Justices Scalia and Thomas are porbably chomping at the bit to deny Al Gore the chance to appoint any justices to the Court, after his condemnations of them. While I doubt this is true, it just goes to show that Presidential candidates of the future might want to be more temperate in their criticisms of the Court if they expect a close and contested race. W
Stop the recounts! Lyn knows who won:
More people intended to vote for Gore in Florida than intended to vote for Bush.
If only we had consulted her from the get-go, we could have avoided this whole mess. W
[November 24, 2000]
Most jurisdictions don't count dimples as votes.
In the 38-year history of punch card voting, only a small number of communities have counted these ballots as valid.
This used to include Palm Beach County, according to a 1990 order given by Democratic Supervisor of Elections Teresa LePore directing that dimpled ballots do not count as clear intent to cast a vote. W
The hits just keep on coming! Last Wednesday, the Bush team asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the outlandish decision of the Florida Supreme Court forcing the Secretary of State to certify late and amended election returns from the counties. Today, in a stunning development, the High Court agreed to hear the case.
This is almost universally unexpected by legal experts, including myself. (Expert? Well, I’ve got the degree, I’ve got the license, so draw your own conclusion.) The one thing we know is that four of the nine Supreme Court justices were concerned enough with the actions of the Florida Supreme Court that they wanted to review it. [PDF file] They agreed to hear two questions, and added one of their own:
It is difficult to imagine what purpose the Court would have in taking this case unless they had serious doubts about the leglaity of the Florida Supreme Court’s actions.
Shortly after the announcement by the Court, Tom Feeney, the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, gave a press conference. He announced the Florida legislature will participate in case to safeguard its role under the federal constitution, which Feeney said is delegated "wholly to the legislature" of the state. The House and Senate have each retained counsel to advise them. W
[November 23, 2000]
Just a brief note, since I am surrounded by family who deserve my attention and actually seem to want it... I am thankful for:
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. What are you thankful for? W
[November 22, 2000]
No one should be surprised, that in the wake of the Florida Supreme Court's ruling, both sides will continue to litigate until they get what they want. W
[November 21, 2000]
On page 21 of its opinion, the court found:
Under this scheme, a candidate can request a manual recount at any point prior to certification by the Board and such action can lead to a full recount of all the votes in the county. Although the Code sets no specific deadline by which a manual recount must be completed, logic dictates that the period of time required to complete a full manual recount may be substantial, particularly in a populous county, and may require several days. The protest provision thus conflicts with section 102.111 and 102.112, which state that the Boards “must” submit their returns to the Elections Canvassing Commission by 5:00 p.m. of the seventh day.
The Court cannot substitute its "logic" for evidence, in particular when the evidence would show exactly the contrary. If the Court were to have looke dat what is actually occurring, these "populous" counties have demonstrated that they can complete a recount in just a few days, rather than "several," just as Volusia County did. As of 8:00pm Tuesday, Broward County had already finished, after starting far later than the others. Apparently, only Miami-Dade has any problem with the matter, and they didn't even decide to start until a day before the statutory deadline. W
9:45pm, Tuesday: The Florida Supreme Court just unanimously ruled [PDF file] that Secretary of State Katherine Harris must accept amended returns up until 5:00pm on Nov 26 or 9:00am Nov. 27. In so doing, the Supreme Court substituted its own law for that passed by the legislature, and smashed the separation of powers wall that provides checks and balances for the government of the State of Florida.
Relying on the "supreme right of the people to vote," the Court went beyond the record in front of it and assumed that hand counts are more accurate than machine counts. I say "assumed" because there was no evidence in the record that the court considered either way. They heard no testimony, no witnesses, no evidence at all on the matter, but still made that factual finding that excluding the late returns would infringe upon voting rights. Assuming a fact without any evidence is something that courts cannot legally do. They have clearly stepped beyond the limits of allowable judicial power and stepped into the bounds of the legislature.
Finally, this ruling virtually guarantees that litigation will continue right until the day the electors cast their votes. W
Quoth Chris:
The girl had a few inches of hair chopped off this afternoon. Damnation! I have a sexy wife.
Chris, all married women do that. When they join the club, they are required to get the official club haircut so that they may be recognized by other club members. My wife did the same thing, and yes, she's drop-dead sexy too. W
Anyone who thinks a hand count is presumptively the most accurate way to discern the true intent of the voters, heed this. Democrats have gone into court to urge a lower threshold for counting Gore votes, because...
...lawyers for the Democratic Party grew concerned late yesterday that the recount will fail to produce the trove of Democratic votes they have been counting on.
Here's an eyewitness account from an observer who is too cowardly to sign his or her name, but still makes a good point nonetheless:
After all, what else could an indented chad mean than the register of an intent? Well, that was before I saw the evidence. Having examined these ballots up close, real close, by the thousands, it's clear that the most reasonable explanation is that the voter changed his mind in the process of voting and chose not to vote for a particular presidential candidate. How else to interpret those numerous ballots where there is a clear punch for a presidential candidate along with a pregnant chad for his rival? Either the voter changed their mind or realized they were making a mistake and pulled back at the last moment. Is it so difficult to imagine not wanting to vote for any candidate?
It's frightening that the next four years of the Republic hinged upon the outcome of stuff like this. By this point, I would firmly support a Constitutional amendment banning punch-card ballots as an inherent violation of the fundamental right to vote. W
The Florida lawsuit challenging Dick Cheney's Wyoming residency was apparently dismissed yesterday, just as I thought it would be, although it didn't exactly get a lot of press. Within hours of the dismissal, three Texas residents filed a similar lawsuit in a Texas federal court. I expect the same results.
The Legal Times explains the difference between a resident and an inhabitant:
That word [inhabitant] escapes easy definition. Even though it has existed for more than two centuries, the constitutional reference to "inhabitant" has not been authoritatively analyzed or construed. And in various statutory contexts, courts have construed the term in a number of ways, spanning "a range of different relationships between a person and a place," as Justice Stephen Breyer stated when he was a court of appeals judge.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, Judge Moore never even reached the standing or justiciability arguments, throwing out the suit on the grounds that it should have been filed in Texas. We'll see what the new judge thinks of it, I'm sure. W
Sean gets another article in Enter Stage Right: Stealing an election in broad daylight W
I just watched the CSPAN recast of today's... er, yesterday's... Florida Supreme Court hearing. Barry Richard is a god. The rest should be shoveling tar for a living, because they can't call what they did today "advocacy." I think three of the justices - Anstead, Quince, and Pariente - are willing to rewrite the statute by judicial fiat, but I'm hoping that the other four won't. Justice Shaw is probably the swing vote, though. W
[November 20, 2000]
Tunku Varadarajan writes on the demonization of Katherine Harris, focused mainly on her makeup:
If anyone can discern a connection between Ms. Harris's mascara and the Constitution, I'd love to hear about it.
Liberals should be ashamed of their sexism. They would never dare judge a man by those standards. W
[November 19, 2000]
One year ago today, I sat down at my computer and began to write a bit of nonsense. Of course, that bit of nonsense found its way onto the web, and when it got there, it needed a meaningless name. So I dubbed it What's On It For Me? My mission? Just to talk about stuff on the web that mattered to me - and collect it in a place online to share it with anyone who cared.
A handful of folks now read this site on a regular basis, and many more stumble across it accidentally while searching for naked pictures of Jessica Beil. (Yes, that is actually the single most common search term used to find WOIFM - three times more common than its nearest competitor, "chimpanzees." ) If you're relatively new to these pages, take some time and peruse the archives. You'll find a little bit of Elian Gonzalez, some Seminole and Wildcat football, and a whole lot of talk about George W. Bush and Al Gore.
I've had a great time doing it, and I don't expect to stop anytime soon. I've hope you enjoyed it with me. Do you have a favorite WOIFM entry? Please share it with me. W
One year ago, in stating the obvious:
The only consolation a naysayer can find in all the current hubbub is that, inside of a year, the inevitable winnowing will be complete, and the weblog community will have matured into something efficient, useful and blessedly quiet. The remaining webloggers will go about their business, providing links and commentary, without all the noisy hoo-ha of revolution.
Today, Blogger claims to have over 60,000 users, most of whom run personal weblogs. Some of the old guard have shut down or slipped away, but many new ones have sprung up to take their place, like mushrooms in a cow pasture after a rainstorm. When I first started, there were between 200 - 300 weblogs, according to the list in the Eatonweb Portal at the time. From that acorn, to 60,000 in the space of twelve short months. That doesn't even count the myriad of non-Blogger sites owned and maintained by the more independent-minded. There may be a thousand or so of those even now.
If that's "winnowing," I would hate to see what would have happened if the weblog idea had caught on. W
It was a good football weekend for me - the Florida State Seminoles trounced fourth-ranked Florida 30 - 7, keeping their hopes alive for a shot at the Orange Bowl to play for the national championship for the fourth consecutive year. This is the third straight year the Seminoles have beaten the Gators, including last year, and there's no sign of slowing down. Sorry, Gator fans.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Northwestern Wildcats drove to a stunning triumph over conference rival Illinois, crushing the Illini 61 - 23. The score makes the game sound closer than it really was, with Illinois scoring 21 of those points in the final quarter against the 'Cats sixth-string defense. Even better, the win guaranteed the Wildcats a share of the Big Ten title - their third title in six years, after decades of drought. It's a good time to be a Wildcat fan. W