Word: stated
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...with that, America reached DefCon 1, with Feeney's finger just above the glowing red button. A state legislature hasn't disregarded its popular vote and sent its own electors to Congress since 1876. But by joint proclamation with state senate president John McKay, Feeney can summon all state legislators to Tallahassee for a special session to do just that, even as early as this week. That could precipitate an almost unimaginable series of constitutional nightmares, from a divided U.S. Congress fighting over what to do with the Florida electors to the U.S. Supreme Court having to choose our next...
Florida's most hawkish Republicans see the state supreme court decision to move the certification deadline from Nov. 14 to Nov. 26 as the latest usurpation of their legislative power; the court has recently struck down a parental-consent abortion law as well as a law limiting death-row appeals. This prompted some Republicans to try expanding the number of judges on that court so they could pack it with their own. (They failed, just as Franklin Roosevelt did when he tried a similar maneuver with the U.S. Supreme Court.) A special legislative session picking Bush electors, using the original...
...would also cost $40,000 a day, be legally suspect and potentially disastrous politically. Federal law says the legislature can declare its own winner if the choice of the voters is not obvious "on the day prescribed by law." Many electoral experts interpret this to mean the state doesn't have the right to step in until Dec. 12, the deadline for Florida to choose its electors. If Feeney wants to intervene before then, he would have to argue that "the day prescribed by law" has already passed...
Moderates in both houses recognize the likely collateral damage, and are urging patience. "The legislature taking action would be a pretty heavy hand," admits Republican state representative Jerry Maygarden. Due to term limits, nearly 40% of the legislature is made up of new members, sworn in just last week. Committee assignments have yet to be made, and many members have just figured out where their offices are. This is no time for Armageddon...
...legal challenges might prevent Florida from meeting its Dec. 12 deadline for choosing electors. If court contests are still unsettled by the end of next week, the legislature may have little choice but to act on its own. "No one is gung-ho about calling a special session," says state representative Bob Allen, a freshman Republican, "but if the situation is still in stalemate, we are willing to take action...