Florida Supreme Court concludes recount hearing

Florida's Supreme Court justices enter the courtroom on Monday

INTERACTIVE Profile of the Florida Supreme Court

ON THE SCENE Mike Boettcher on the issues before the Florida Supreme Court Peter Viles gives the view from Wall Street Jeanne Meserve: Bush's strategy and surrogates Patty Davis: The Gore strategy

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN)-- The race for the White House now awaits a pivotal decision from the Florida Supreme Court on whether to include manual recounts in Florida's final election results.

Chief Justice Charles Wells opened the session by acknowledging the session's "vital importance to our nation, our state and our world." The justices heard the case on an expedited basis.

The court on Monday concluded a two-and-a-half-hour hearing, featuring lawyers for Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, plus other state and county officials. Gore, the counties conducting the recounts and Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth -- Gore's campaign chairman in the state -- argued that a hand recount would more accurately reflect the intentions of voters and should be allowed.

Recounts sought by Gore's campaign are under way in heavily Democratic Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- the Bush campaign's co-chairwoman in the state -- argue that the hand recount process came too late and is riddled with human error.

Lawyers for the Bush campaign argued that the Democrats were asking the court to change the rules of an election in the middle of the process.

Results submitted by the November 14 deadline Harris is trying to enforce give Bush a 930-vote lead in the presidential race in Florida, with the state's 25 electoral votes poised to provide the margin of victory in the Electoral College. The state Supreme Court has ordered Harris not to certify those results until it rules on the case.

Bush campaign attorney Barry Richard said Gore's campaign was asking the court "to step into the shoes of both the legislative and executive branches, to rewrite the statutes and to begin the process -- which I suggest to this court is never-ending -- of sitting as a determinant, an eternal arbiter of the facts."

SUPREME COURT FILINGS Key court filings in the election cases before the Florida Supreme Court from the court's Website (requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™) November 14: Petition from Palm Beach County November 18: Initial brief of Attorney General Robert A. Butterworth November 18: Brief of Al Gore and Florida Democratic Party November 19: Answer of George W. Bush Complete election litigation filings before the Florida Supreme Court Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™     VIDEO Latest video   [an error occurred while processing this directive]   ALSO Florida attorney general: Count military absentee ballots Deadlines and 'will of the voters' debated in Florida Supreme Court Bush, Gore await Florida high court hearing Florida circuit judge rules new election not legal Poll: Americans evenly divided over Florida election dispute Florida high court hears recount arguments Florida GOP asks judge to recuse himself     INTERACTIVE Election timeline Previous close elections What they're saying Not ready for Webster's: What is a pregnant chad?

Joseph Klock, a lawyer for Harris, argued that the matter "is not really a legal problem, it's a political problem." Klock argued that Harris should be allowed to certify the results of Florida's vote and let the loser contest them -- perhaps using the results from the hand counts.

"The court is being brought into something that it does not need to be involved in," Klock said.

David Boies, the lawyer representing Gore before the high court, said nothing in state law prevents counties from amending their election returns after the November 14 deadline that Harris has tried to enforce. He reacted skeptically to the argument about a post-certification appeal, suggesting that the court should block Harris from declaring Florida's electors.

"They say that what they want to do is have a contest," he said. "But what they have said is that once the results are certified, the recount becomes superfluous and ought to stop ... it is their view that when that declaration of the electors can be declared, it's over with."

Justices, including Wells in particular, expressed concern that ongoing recounts could jeopardize Florida's ability to send its representatives to the Electoral College. Boies argued that votes may not need to be certified until December 12, when Florida must certify its Electoral College delegation. That would allow six days for either candidate to challenge the results before the electors gather in their state capitals.

"What I am asking is that the court use its power so that the votes of all the people of Florida that have been cast can be counted," said Boies.

Neither presidential candidate currently holds the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Gore's campaign hopes the full hand recounts in the three counties, where as many as 1.7 million ballots were cast, give him the votes needed to overcome Bush's razor-thin lead in Florida.

Paul Hancock, a lawyer for Butterworth, argued that Harris acted wrongly when she refused last week to recognize votes resulting from the manual recounts.

"Public officials have a responsibility to count and recognize the votes of all Floridians who voted in this presidential election," Hancock said. "Factors such as administrative inconvenience, expediency or the limitations of vote-reading machines pale in comparison to protecting the voting rights of our citizens."

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