In article .com, wrote:

Conservatives stand for strict interpretation of the constitution and
less govt intervention? Sounds good on paper. What about medical
marijuana? Terry Schiavo? The overriding of the Florida courts by the
Supreme Court in the 2000 election?

The decisions by the US Supreme Court in the 2000 election directed the
Florida Supreme Court to follow the law and the Constitution. That's all.

Among other things, Florida election law clearly requires that election
results "shall" be certified within seven days after the election. The Florida
Supreme Court ruled, in effect, that when the legislature wrote "seven" they
really *meant* "sevenTEEN".

The US Supreme Court told the Florida court "cut it out".

The really mystifying thing to me about that episode is the voting in the two
decisions. That's right, two, not one. The US Supreme Court decided 7-2 (with
Stevens and Ginsburg in the minority IIRC) that the recounts taking place in
Florida violated state and federal election laws *and* the state and federal
Constitutions. There was a second decision with respect to stopping those
recounts: *that* was the widely reported 5-4 decision.

Note that carefully: 5-4. Two justices who agreed that the recounts were
illegal, voted that they should be allowed to continue anyway. Unbelievable.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?