Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, December 12, 2000
Nation
For comments, contact Lori O'Otoole at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
U.S. Supreme Court hears case
No timetable set for crucial ruling in Gore vs. Bush
The Associated Press
Holding nine crucial votes in America's election saga, U.S. Supreme Court justices quizzed campaign lawyers yesterday about a muddle of Florida recount laws and the judicial branch's power to settle Bush vs. Gore case that may determine the 43rd
— the case that may determine the 43rd president.
president. "We'll await the outcome," Texas Gov. George W. Bush said after 90 minutes of historic oral arguments.
historic or official No timetable was set for a ruling that could end Democrat Al Gore's quest for the presidency or throw open the state to recounts, jeopardizing Bush's officially certified, razor-thin lead. Florida's 25 electoral votes would put either man in the White House.
In case the court rules against Bush, Florida's GOP-led Legislature moved closer yesterday to naming its own slate of electors loyal to the Texas governor.
Separate House and Senate panels recommended the GOP slate after a constitutional scholar told lawmakers "the buck stops here."
The Supreme Court rushed against a deadline set for today for states to select presidential electors. The Electoral College meets Dec. 18, and Congress will count electoral votes Jan. 6.
If left unsettled for much longer, the 2000 presidential election could spill into a GOP-controlled Congress, where House Majority Whip Tom DeLay vowed that Republicans would "stand up and do our constitutional duty."
The candidates watched from afar. Bush, who has been certified the victor by 537 votes out of 6 million cast, talked to his legal team from Texas and said the lawyers were cautiously optimistic. Gore was at his official residence in Washington, while three of his children — Karenna, Kristin and Albert III — attended the session.
Chief Justice William Rehqunit gaveled the session open: "We'll hear argument now in number 00949, George W. Bush and Richard Cheney v. Albert Gore et al."
"Where's the federal question here?" Justice Anthony Kennedy asked Bush
attorney Theodore Olson less than two minutes into arguments about the Gore-s recounts ordered by the Florida Supreme Court on Friday. In a 5-4 decision on Saturday, the U.S. Supreme Court halted the counting.
Justice David Souter, who voted against the Saturday stay, seemed to ponder the ground rules for a possible resumption of the recount. "Why shouldn't there be one subjective rule for all counties?" he asked.
Some justices who made up Saturday's majority seemed skeptical of a recount, under any standard. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor warned of a "big red flag" in election law that seemingly requires courts to defer to the legislative branch. With Republicans controlling the Florida Legislature and Congress, Bush's legal team has raised the same issue.
Throughout the day, the contested election ricocheted among other courts as well. An appeals court in Atlanta upheld a federal judge's refusal to throw out 2,400 overseas ballots, and Democratic lawyers in Tallahassee asked the Florida Supreme Court to reject thousands of votes for Bush regarding a lawsuit challenging absentee ballot applications.
Justices' swing votes key to case
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The day's first questions came from the two people who may have the last word in the presidential election — Supreme Court swing voters Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy.
The two justices, both appointed by former President Reagan, hold the court's middle ground, the same territory George W. Bush and Al Gore labored to capture in the long, indecisive political campaign.
O'Connor and Kennedy joined the court's three most conservative members to bring the historic case
back before the court, which was a major victory for Republican Bush.
Now that their votes are tantamount to putting Bush in the White House, there is no guarantee that either Kennedy or O'Connor will vote the same way.
vote the same way.
"They are the traditional swing votes," said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers, and although he does not rule out a change of heart from Chief Justice William Rehnquist, "Kennedy and O'Connor are the most likely to cross to Gore's position."
The court split 5-4 Saturday to stop Florida hand counts along a
line that was ideological if not plainly partisan.
All five in the majority were named to the court by Republican presidents, while the four dissenters included two named by Republicans and two by President Clinton.
Without more recounts, Gore cannot erase Bush's tiny lead in Florida. A Supreme Court decision before the end of the day today, the deadline for the state to name its decisive slate of 25 presidential electors, could all but seal the election for Bush.
Tire reports could clear workers
The Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Va. — Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. are ready to report to government investigators they have reached similar conclusions regarding tire failures blamed for 148 deaths nationwide, according to USA Today.
According to a report in yesterday's USA Today, the conclusions would clear workers producing the Firestone tires and the Ford Explorer vehicle, to which many of the fatalities have been linked. The paper said the companies were expected to report later in the day.
Ford officials said the company still was researching the cause of the tread separations and had not determined a cause.
"we have not reached any conclusions," said Ford representative Ken Zino.
The companies are expected to focus on problems in the tire-manufacturing process involving adhesives and a layer of rubber between the tires' steel belts, sources familiar with
companies' plans told USA Today.
Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone would not say in advance what they would tell the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, USA Today reported. The newspaper said Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone had conducted separate investigations of the tires and had been discussing their findings with each other.
discussing their performance NHTSA figures link 148 deaths to separations, blowouts and other tread problems in Firestone's ATX, ATX II and Wilderness ATires. Many of those tires were standard equipment on the Explorers.
Blaming the tire design and manufacturing processes could take heat off the Explorer, whose design Bridgestone/Firestone has been linking to rollovers when tires failed. It also could counter theories that underqualified replacement workers made faulty tires during a 1995-1996 strike at Firestone's Decatur, III., factory, or that regular workers' poor performance was responsible.
Leak forces reactor shutdown
The Associated Press
SHIPPINGPORT, Pa. — A leak in a coolant system at a nuclear power plant forced the shutdown of one of the plant's reactors and prompted a low-level emergency yesterday.
Authorities said the leak at the Beaver Valley Power Station was contained within the building, and there was no indication of a threat to public health or safety.
Reports from the plant, about 25 miles west of Pittsburgh, indicated there had not been a radioactive release from the building, said David Smith, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
At one point, radioactive water was spilling onto the floor of the containment building at the rate of 12 to 20 gallons a minute, said Neil Sheehan, federal Nuclear. Legislatory Commission
Management Agency. The emergency was declared at the plant's No. 2 reactor unit at 5:36 a.m. The leak was called an "unusual event," the least serious of four classifications of power-plant emergencies.
"Leakage in general is something that occurs at plants all the time."
Neil Sheehan
federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission
spokesman. No workers were exposed. "Leakage in general is something that occurs at plants all the time." Sheehan said.
Workers in protective suits went into the building to check the leak, but were unable to reach the valve and gave up the effort until the reactor cools. Sheehan said.
The leak appeared to be coming from a line used to drain water from the reactor's coolant system. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules direct plant operators to investigate leaks exceeding one gallon a minute and to shut down reactors when the leak exceeds 10 gallons each minute.