When five voted for millions (Proof of Coup 2000!)

[Lori Price CLG]

When five voted for millions

--by Robyn E. Blumner

One of the darkest hours in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court was Dec. 12, 2000, at 10 p.m., when the five-member conservative majority handed the presidency to George W. Bush over his rival Al Gore.

Despite Florida's 61,000 statewide undervotes - possible legal votes that had not been counted by the machines - the high court claimed it was acting in the name of fairness to the state's voters when it overturned a decision by the Florida Supreme Court and stopped the recount...

Margolick reports that Justice Antonin Scalia was so anxious to shut the recount down that he pressured his colleagues to do so even before the Gore legal team had a chance to respond. That didn't happen, but consideration of the matter was moved up to the next morning. On the 9th, a stay was issued.

According to Margolick, the court's more conservative members, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justices Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, quickly started "sending around memos to their colleagues, each of them offering a different rationale for ruling in Bush's favor." They were "auditioning arguments," Margolick wrote. During the first go-round, Margolick reports, an O'Connor clerk told fellow clerks that "O'Connor was determined to overturn the Florida decision and was merely looking for grounds."

This was a court unhinged from the law, operating in a purely political guise, bereft of legitimacy.

<snip>

Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[whistle]

2. This suggests keeping an eye on Anthony Scalia and if he begins...

...cleaning is hunting rifles and shotguns, expect another Supreme Court surprise. Perhaps this time it will be to shut down the November 2 election.

[Sparkle]

3. After the behavior of the 5-4 Supreme Court judges, I will always

see that group as just another backstabbing partisan group. No respect for them whatsoever.

[iam]

4. Conservatism is the demon here

The depths to which conservatives would stoop to install their guy in office was nothing less than the destruction of our republic itself. Do you remember the second set of electors chosen by the evil Florida conservative legislators? Well this set of electors would've clashed with the electors chosen by the people of Florida. Imagine the scene in the House of Reps with two sets of electors, one for Gore one for bush*. Physical battle would've ensued. the president would not have been selected, the nation would be in a state of emergency. This scenario was deliberately set upon by conservatives. The pre-meditated destruction of the United States as we knew it. Absolutely despicable. This is the enemy we are up against.

[ixion]

5. and because of those 5, thousands have died

needlessly.

And this from the people who brought you 'pro-life' :eyes:

[reprehensor]

6. Coup 2K

Coup 2K

[Surf Cowboy]

7. The Supreme Court of the U.S. is as impotent as a Nevada Boxing Commission

with all due apologies to "The Simpsons" and Monty Burns.

[grasswire]

8. follow the links...

...to the original column at the St. Petersburg Times and write this young woman columnist a thank you note. She's likely to get a bushel of freeper mail.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

9. Scalia has written that democracy impedes God's choice of rulers. Yup.

Read his quote down below in my sig line. He is batty and dangerous.

[Peanut Gallery]

10. From the article...

"Now, thanks to a masterpiece of reporting in October's Vanity Fair, we know too. Reporter David Margolick headed a writing team that spoke with a number of former Supreme Court clerks who were there when the Bush case came before the court. Though most of Margolick's sources were former clerks for the liberal justices, some were from the conservative side as well.

While the clerks had pledged to keep the details of their tenure confidential, Margolick wrote that the clerks felt they were witnesses to an abuse of power and didn't feel obliged to shield those actions."

PDFs of the above-referenced Vanity Fair article, "A Path to Florida" can be found at the following link, along with text of the dissenting opinions (one which even includes the phrase "Wholly Without Merit"):

http://www.ticketstubs.org/mefi/35792