Editorial: Backdoor maneuver is ghastly

Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000 | 9:45 a.m.

For anyone thinking that the U.S. Supreme Court would quickly provide some finality to the presidential election, the high court's decision Monday to send the recount case back to the Florida Supreme Court for further review certainly didn't provide much hope. Still, Florida's high court is the proper place to ultimately help decide whether disputed ballots should be counted. Indeed, Florida's Supreme Court once again will take center stage in this contest now that Al Gore is appealing a judge's decision Monday to reject his contest of the certification of Florida's vote by the secretary of state.

Most of the post-election drama has played itself out in the courts, but there has been a concern that the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature might try to hijack the election for George W. Bush. Some of Bush's political operatives have been worried that the Florida Supreme Court eventually will order a count of all the contested votes -- a count that many observers believe could result in a victory for Gore. So these advisers signaled to top Republicans in the Florida Legislature that a special legislative session could pick Bush electors to represent Florida, avoiding intervention by the courts.

A public backlash to what would be an underhanded effort, though, finally prompted Bush on Monday to distance himself from talk of the Florida Legislature stepping in. After weeks of wrangling, a resolution is in sight to what has been an incredibly close election. Now is the time to maintain faith in our legal system to get an accurate vote count -- it's not a moment to thwart the will of Florida's voters.

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