Word: could
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...possible, for example, says Barbara Perry, professor of law at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, that the Court could hear the oral arguments Friday morning, confer Friday afternoon and decide to dismiss the case as "improvidentially granted." This neat bit of 19th-century verbiage simply means the Court has decided, for whatever reason, that it is not interested in ruling on the case. If this happens, the case bounces back to the previous court (the 11th district circuit court in Atlanta). And since those judges have already heard the case (and ruled against Bush), unless there is a new twist...
...There are two further eventualities that could conceivably signal defeat for Bush...
...rules against Bush. In the second, SCOTUS rules for Bush on the pre-certification extension, but refuses to rule on the subsequent contesting of the Florida vote. Back in Tallahassee, if Leon County judge Sanders Sauls rules in favor of Gore and allows the recount to take place, Gore could still win the election...
...could, that is, if a very specific chain of events comes to pass. And this is where things get ultra-complicated: If the recount leaves Gore the winner, could the Florida legislature still override the recount tally and name their own Bush-friendly slate of electors? According to Robert Bennett, constitutional law professor at Northwestern University, the answer to that question depends on one's interpretation of a specific statute, which holds that the legislature can become involved only if there is a "failure of the choice process." If one defines Election Day as the "choice process," the legislature...
...always possible, of course, that even if Gore wins the recount, Florida election officials (such as Secretary of State Katherine Harris) could refuse to certify his victory. And that would mean another court proceeding in which Gore would be forced to get an injunction ordering the certification to take place...