Bush vs. Gore in Supreme Court again

WASHINGTON, DEC. 11. Lawyers for White House rivals, Mr. George Bush and Mr. Al Gore, opened oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court today in a historic session that could decide who becomes the 43rd U.S. President. The court began hearing arguments with rival lawyers disagreeing over whether handcounts of Florida ballots should resume.

At 11 a.m. (9.30 p.m. IST), the nine members of the highest court in the land convened for 90 minutes of arguments, marking the second time in 11 days that they have heard a case over the bitterly contested presidential election.

Arguing first was lawyer Mr. Theodore Olson, who represents the Texas Governor, followed by Mr. David Boies, on behalf of the Vice-President.

The historic argument session in the case entitled `Bush vs. Gore' centered on a Florida Supreme Court ruling on Friday that ordered hand recounts of tens of thousands of ballots cast in the November seven election. The U.S. Supreme court, however, by a 5- 4 vote, halted the recounts on Saturday until it decides the case.

Mr. Olson argued the Florida Supreme Court ruling should be overturned, ending the counting. Mr. Boies urged that that be upheld and the recounts immediately resume as Mr. Gore seeks the votes needed to overcome Mr. Bush's razor-thin lead in Florida and to win the presidency.

In Tallahassee, Florida, Democratic attorneys urged the Florida Supreme Court to invalidate thousands of contested absentee ballots in a longshot legal bid to win Florida's decisive electoral votes for the Vice-President.

In legal briefs filed in Tallahassee, the Democrats asked the State's highest court to reverse a pair of rulings handed down on Friday rejecting their claim that 25,000 absentee ballots cast in Seminole and Martin counties should be invalidated, erasing Mr. Bush's slim 537-vote lead in Florida, which has 25 electoral college votes - enough to put either candidate into the White House.

``Now we play the waiting game,'' the Democratic attorney, Mr. Gerald Richman, said after filing legal briefs in the case minutes before a 9 a.m. (7.30 p.m. IST) deadline. Briefs filed in response by the Republicans were not available.

In nearly identical cases, the Democrats alleged election supervisors in Martin and Seminole counties allowed Republican operatives to alter application forms for absentee ballots by either adding or correcting voter registration numbers on the forms, which were pre-printed by the Republican party.

- Reuters, AFP

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