Deeply Divided Supreme Court Rules for Bush

A bitterly polarized U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended the presidential hopes of Al Gore '69 last night, reversing a Florida Supreme Court decision to continue recounting votes and drawing to a close the historic legal struggle five weeks after election day.

George W. Bush, the would-be president-elect, had no immediate comment. But former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, representing Bush, said the Texas governor and his running mate Dick Cheney were "very pleased and gratified" with the court's ruling." He stopped short of calling on the vice president to concede, though several prominent Democrats, including the chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), publicly advised Gore to end his campaign.

Gore's campaign chair, William Daley, later issued a statement saying Gore and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman will instead take time to review the court's words and "will address the court's decision in full detail at a time to be determined" today.

After deliberating throughout the day and into the night, the court delivered a highly complex, multi-part, 65-page decision a little after 10 p.m.

By a 7-2 vote, with justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissenting, the court held per curiam that "there are constitutional problems" with the Florida Supreme Court's decision. By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that, in effect, there was nothing more the Florida court could do to fairly recount the state's ballots without disrupting the electoral process.

"It is obvious that the recount cannot be conducted in compliance with the requirements of equal protection and due process without substantial additional work," the justices' 5-4 opinion said.

"Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet the December 12 date will be unconstitutional...we reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida ordering a recount to proceed," the justices added.

The majority opinion held that Dec. 12 marked the end of the federal "safe harbor" period, when slates of electors could be certified without the threat of Congressional challenge.

In the 5- 4 opinion, the justices described what they saw as three violations of the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

They said the Florida court's order failed to include over-votes in the manual recount; that all ballots were recounted in some but not all counties; and that there is an "absence of a uniform, specific standard to guide the recounts."

All four dissenting justices presented separate, strongly worded opinions in opposition to the court's ruling.

In the most dramatic dissent, Justice Stevens called the federal questions of the case "insubstantial," and added that the Supreme Court's decision, in siding with the Bush team's appeal, reflected an "unstated lack of confidence in the impartiality and capacity" of the Florida Supreme Court.

His colleagues' decision, Stevens said, undermined the credibility of the nation's highest court.

"Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear," Stevens wrote. "It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law."

Ginsburg wrote that the Supreme Court used the wrong standard in strictly adhering to the Dec. 12 Electoral College deadline. Breyer said there was "no reason" why such a political issue should have been taken up by the court, recommending that Congress resolve the dispute.

Immediately after the decision was announced, Democrats began to call for the Vice President to concede.

Gore "should act now and concede," DNC chair Ed Rendell said. Other DNC officials stressed that Rendell's opinion was his own.

Senior Gore advisors and lawyers discussed the decision's implications on a conference call.

While Gore postponed a statement, a concession seemed imminent.

"I think that the gracious thing is to accept even if one disagrees with the decision of the Supreme Court," Laurence Tribe '62, Tyler professor of Constitutional law and Gore lawyer told NBC News.

Later, on CNN, Tribe said he had not told Gore to concede, but instead advised that a "night of reflection" was needed to understand the complicated decision.

With the drama finally coming to a close, College Democrats did not seem

surprised at the end result.

"We've moved on. We kind of had somewhat of a closing on Nov. 30," said Marcie B. Bianco '02, president of the Harvard College Democrats.

"Now maybe we can all get together and deliver our thoughts and look towards the future," she said.

--The Associated Press contributed to this article.

--Staff writer Adam I. Arenson can be reached at arenson@fas.harvard.edu. Staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached ebcolby@fas.harvard.edu.