Lawmakers: Ruling is last word

©New York Times

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 11, 2000

WASHINGTON -- Prominent congressional Democrats and some Republicans said Sunday that the U.S. Supreme Court should be the last word in the divisive, monthlong standoff over the contested presidency.

But Sen. Trent Lott, the highest-ranking Senate Republican, did not discourage the Florida Legislature from acting on behalf of Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, should the nation's highest court unexpectedly find in favor of Vice President Al Gore in his quest for recounts.

As House and Senate members spoke a day before the Supreme Court was to hear arguments on whether to allow manual recounts to resume in Florida, they began to look beyond the contested election to how to govern. The lawmakers said they were keenly aware of the difficulties of making government work with a split Congress and a president who, no matter who prevails, would probably face lingering questions about his legitimacy.

"If this is concluded in the next 48 hours, the person who is on the losing side of this should go and meet with the winner," said Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., on Fox News Sunday. He added: "They should make an appearance together. There should be an immediate call for national unity and for accepting the results of this election, getting about the country's business."

A day after Democrats criticized the U.S. Supreme Court for its 5-to-4 vote Saturday to stop the recount that had begun just hours earlier in Florida, party leaders sought to moderate any anti-court tones. On Saturday, some angry Democrats said the Supreme Court had diminished its credibility. But on Sunday, leaders said they would rally around any court decision, and they sought to contrast themselves with Republicans who have used phrases like "judicial aggression" and "unelected judges" while objecting to rulings in favor of Gore by the Florida Supreme Court.

"We have a court system," said Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, the House minority leader. "We have a rule of law in this country. And I have said from the beginning we have got to stick with it."

Asked whether Gore should concede if the court found in favor of Bush's effort to stop the recount, Gephardt said on ABC's This Week, "I believe he will, and I think George Bush would do the same thing if it were the other way around."

Torricelli also said of the expected Supreme Court ruling: "I believe that probably is the last word, and it's the last chance to have this issue not go to the United States Congress. I think it would be very regrettable if the fight in Florida became a fight in Washington."

Under the Constitution, Congress can approve or reject the members of the Electoral College. If Florida's electors were in dispute, Congress might face a bruising fight.

But in his appearance on CBS's Face the Nation, Lott, the Senate majority leader from Mississippi, declined to call for the Florida Legislature to hold off on naming Bush electors should the U.S. Supreme Court unexpectedly support Gore's drive for a recount.

"I am sure that they would prefer not to have to step in," he said of the Florida lawmakers, "but they do have a role to play, and I think they are prepared to do that."

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