Election 2000: U.S. Supreme Court Halts Florida Recount
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: But first a look at the latest developments out of Florida. At this hour, the on again, off again recount is off once again. As we just mentioned, late this afternoon, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court put the hand count on hold. A hearing on the matter will be held late Monday morning. The Bush camp is viewing that stay as a major victory, it came shortly after the Florida Supreme Court refused a similar request to stop the count. In the Gore camp, his legal advisers say they will fight on despite this latest setback.</s>BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Some greeted the high court's ruling with cheers, others with tears, and some were simply stunned by the court's decision to intervene in the election process at all. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken was on hand when the surprising announcement was made and he joins us from the Supreme Court in Washington with the details and a crowd behind him -- Bob.</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as a matter of fact, Brian, the crowds have become part of the landscape throughout this constitutional dilemma, they're here at the Supreme Court as the words spread that the justice were, in fact, going to hear arguments of this case, but of more significant, immediate impact, that they were stopping the recount in Florida. By all accounts, this is not considered good news for the Bush lawyers -- for the Gore campaign. The Bush lawyers have prevailed in their first request, put a stop to the recount in Florida. And as a matter of fact, to do that required a majority of the Supreme Court justices, and one of the five who agreed with that was Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative who said "it suffices to say that the issuance of the stay suggests that a majority of the court, while not deciding the issues presented, believed that the petitioner has a substantial probability of success." Now, in the event that the Bush side would ultimately prevail, it is widely believed that the Bush presidency would then become a reality, because the recount would be stopped in Florida, the current situation with Bush as the leader in Florida would mean he would get the electoral votes, and that would mean the presidency. That, of course, is based on the assumption that the Bush campaign ultimately wins. That would come after arguments at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, the arguments again, by the way, 90 minutes of them will be heard immediately after they're over -- the Supreme Court again releasing audiotapes which will be shared while the justices go and decide whether they are going to once and for all put an end to this election crisis that has kept the United States mesmerized and the world mesmerized for over a month -- Brian.</s>NELSON: All right, CNN's Bob Franken at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.</s>KAGAN: And for some more insight on this, let's bring in our CNN legal analyst, Greta Van Susteren standing by in Washington. Greta, hello.</s>GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hello, Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Double hit here on the Gore camp from the U.S. Supreme Court -- they took the case, that would have been one thing, and yet along with that they put this stay. How much does that hurt the Gore camp?</s>VAN SUSTEREN: Well, the problem is, is that in issuing a stay what the court says is that there is a substantial likelihood that the Bush side will prevail. So it's not just a question of the court taking it, but they have foreshadowed what may come. Now, the court may change its mind. One of the tricks that lawyers do is they go back and look at what justices have done in earlier cases, and what I would do if I were arguing this case on behalf of the Gore people is I'd go back and go through the audiotapes from the United States Supreme Court, listen to the questions in the other case -- little different issue, but at least we have a little bit of an idea of who you might be able to sway over to your side. But this is a significant victory for the Bush side.</s>KAGAN: They issued that statement, they did it in a way that is characteristic of this U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 split. What do you make of that division, Greta?</s>VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I don't know what to make of the division. All I know is that I am sure that the Bush people are extremely happy. What's sort of interesting is that one of the people who dissented, who didn't think that the case should be heard, is Justice David Souter, who was put on the Supreme Court by Governor Bush's father, President Bush, and he's always been sort of a wild card. He always issues decisions that are rather surprise to people who thought that he would vote a particular way. So I don't know what to make of the 5-4 other than to say to you is that the Bush people should feel real happy tonight and the Gore people should feel very scared tonight.</s>KAGAN: And they should also -- all feel very busy, because here we go again, those written briefs due tomorrow and then the oral arguments 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Is this going to look much like the last time we saw, or last time we heard? Let's be clear about that, no cameras in the courtroom.</s>VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I think so. I am hoping that they will issue -- they will give us the audiotapes. Maybe this time we'll make a giant leap forward and they'll either give us audiotapes that are in real time so we don't get them delayed -- maybe they've learned that this isn't such a bad idea to open their doors to the American people, that we learn a lot from it. Or maybe we'll take even the hugely forward and put cameras in the courtroom, but I wouldn't bet on it. But I sure would like to open those doors so that the American people could actually see and hear the arguments, but I am hoping at least that we can audio tape like last time.</s>KAGAN: But besides that, in terms of legal arguments, do you think it will be much the same, or what will be different?</s>VAN SUSTEREN: I think it will be much the same, except for there are different issues here. I mean, I -- you know, in the first case you had cert issues that the court was entertaining, of course, obviously confused because they sent the case down to the Florida Supreme Court. These are more direct issues. Even the issues of whether or not there should be a -- quote -- "standard," you know, is voter's intent, which is in the Florida code, is that a standard so that it can be applied equally to all the counties, is that fair, or is it not. And then you have the issues that Justice O'Connor raised about whether or not you're changing the rules if all of a sudden you create different standards. She talked about changing the rules in the argument last week. She had all sorts of similar arguments, but this is a different case. These are different issues.</s>KAGAN: Greta Van Susteren in Washington, D.C. -- Greta, thank you very much -- Brian.</s>NELSON: And so what was promised to be a very busy day for Florida vote counters has now turned into a waiting game. Everything has come into a frozen halt. CNN national correspondent Martin Savidge joins us from Tallahassee with the latest on what would have been a busy evening of counting -- Martin.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It would have been. And, you know, we heard all the noise there in the background of Bob Franken's report from the Supreme Court, it has gotten very quiet here in the state capital of Tallahassee. You talk about what a difference a day makes, it's what a difference an hour makes. And here, it was the hour of 2:00, actually 2:45 when that ruling came down in local time from the U.S. Supreme Court that basically slammed the brakes on the recount process. There were 67 counties in the state of Florida that were actively involved in this recount as ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. They were trying to count the underballots, or the undervoted ballots. Some of those counties had started, many of them were just making preparations when the order came down. In fact, we have been told now that of those 67 counties, 13 counties were able to either complete their recount or at least get started and have a partial result. One of the biggest recounts was going on here in Leon County. That was, of course -- they were recounting the ballots for Miami-Dade County that had been brought up here some time ago, they had about 9,000 ballots to get through. Now, when the ax came down, we are told that they had made it about 1/3 of the way through that process and that there had been increases to the vote tallies for both candidates. There were also 137 ballots that were said to be challenged, these would have been ballots that were set aside and then sent off to the courtroom of Judge Terry Lewis, who is overseeing the whole recounting process, and it would have been his determination to try to figure out what the voter intended. We are also told that there were about 3,236 ballots for which there could be no determination in the office of president. One thing we should point out right now, a news conference a short while ago, Ron Klain, one of the Democratic attorneys announced some figures about an improvement for Gore. They are furious, the Republican Party, about that. In fact, there is a hearing going on now in Leon County Circuit Court and they want Ron Klain charged with contempt of court, saying that he violated the spirit of the agreement, the written agreement from Judge Terry saying that he could not release any figures. So the legal bickering is still continuing, even if the hand count has stopped right now -- Brian.</s>NELSON: Martin, a lot of those undervotes still needed to be separated from the other votes before they were counted, and that was a time-consuming process that I think a couple of the counties said would not be finished until later this evening if they had indeed been completed. So is there some misgivings on the part of the county workers that are counting the ballots, that, that process has stopped when it could continue?</s>SAVIDGE: Well, it -- keep in mind the Supreme Court came down and said the count must stop, so it's being interpreted here in many of these canvassing boards that does not mean that the separating of the ballots, that is finding the undervotes, which was one of the big jobs they had to do first, that, that could not go ahead and continue. That was probably the biggest task they faced, and if a recount were ordered, or allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court, with a narrow window of opportunity, it's important they get that separating factor out of the way today</s>NELSON: So that separating factor is continuing?</s>SAVIDGE: Well, as far as we have heard this, it was continuing and it was interpreted, at least among a number of canvassing boards, that it could continue.</s>NELSON: All right, thanks, CNN's Martin Savidge from Tallahassee -- Daryn.