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Gore Asks US Supreme Court Not to Interfere in Florida Recount Dispute
Lawyers for US Vice Presidential candidate Al Gore on November 28 filed a brief with the US Supreme Court, asking the court to avoid interfering in Florida 's presidential recount dispute.
"Principles of federalism counsel strongly against interference by this court," the lawyers said in the filing.
"The Florida Court played a familiar and quintessentially judicial role" in interpreting state law, the lawyers wrote in the filing, urging the nine justices of the US Supreme Court to affirm the state court ruling.
They also urged the justices not to undue the recounts as requested by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, arguing that Bush's request is based on "mischaracterizations" of Florida's Supreme Court ruling a week ago.
"This is a state law case that, despite its undoubted importance, does not belong in federal court," they said.
Bush's legal team is expected to file their written arguments with the US Supreme Court later on Tuesday.
Bush's lawyers appealed to the US Supreme Court on November 22 after the Florida Supreme Court ruled and allowed hand recounts to continue in several counties in Florida beyond a state deadline, arguing that the ruling violated the constitution.
Both sides are expected to make oral arguments at a hearing on Friday as the legal battle for White House shifts to the nation's highest court.
Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican, certified Bush won the state's election on Sunday by a 537-vote margin out of 6 million votes cast. Gore contested the election results in Florida.
Gore made a new call on Tuesday for a speedy hand recount of thousands of questionable ballots in Florida so that there would be "no legitimate question of who won this election."
His lawyers sent a filing in Leon Circuit Court in Florida on Tuesday, asking for a court-appointed master to oversee the manual recounting of thousands of votes cast in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
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