Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By AMY WIMMER
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 6, 2001
GULFPORT -- Forget "Flori-duh." Americans are lucky the 2000 presidential election was disputed in a state like Florida, where the Sunshine Law allowed almost limitless access to vote counts and courtroom controversies, CNN legal analyst Greta Van Susteren said Saturday.
Van Susteren, 46, in town to speak at the Stetson University College of Law commencement, spent weeks in Palm Beach and Tallahassee following the November election. As the world looked on, Florida counties counted and recounted, trying to discern an accurate tabulation under strenuous deadlines.
But the key, Van Susteren said, is that Florida law permitted people to watch the process unfold, even as flaws in the state's voting system became obvious. Florida's courts did more to ensure trust in the process than the U.S. Supreme Court did, she said.
"You had to have an enormous amount of pride," Van Susteren said. "The Florida Supreme Court, whether you believe in their decision or not, the idea that they would say, "Cameras, come on in.' The United States Supreme Court didn't open the doors."
Van Susteren also had praise for one Florida official and criticism for another: "I thought (Secretary of State) Katherine Harris should have pulled herself out of the mix, and I feel (Gov.) Jeb Bush was quite upstanding on that."
In her address to the students, Van Susteren congratulated them on entering a "fascinating and challenging" field. Stetson graduated 133 law students this year and 15 students in its international law and business program.
Twenty-four of the law students will also receive a masters in business administration through Stetson's joint law and MBA program.
The morning ceremony took place on the campus' Plaza Mayor, once a courtyard for the Rolyat Hotel, the original occupant of the Mediterranean-style building Stetson purchased for its law school in 1954. Stetson University is based in DeLand.
Van Susteren saluted Stetson's program, long recognized for its outstanding trial advocacy training. This year U.S. News & World Report named Stetson second in that category.
Van Susteren began working for CNN in 1991. She hosts The Point and co-hosts Burden of Proof with Roger Cossack, and she gained notoriety for her legal analysis of the O.J. Simpson trials and the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, as well as her work during the Bill Clinton impeachment.