And Now It's Up to the Judge

Sunday, Dec. 03, 2000 By JESSICA REAVES

Statistics expert Laurentius Marais testifies before Judge Sauls

CRAIG LITTEN/POOL/AP

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"It was a case well tried, and argued. I will take it under consideration and I will give you a decision in the morning," murmured a weary Judge Sauls late Sunday evening as his two-day trial came to an end. The first part of the judge's parting shot may have been true; the latter turned out to be wrong — thanks to the United States Supreme Court, which on Monday morning announced that the Florida Supreme Court had overstepped in extending the vote-certification deadline. So at about noon the judge's spokesman came out to report that Sauls was busy reviewing his verdict in light of the Supremes' pronouncement.

Suddenly, Judge Sauls' neat two-day hearing and expected quick resolution turned into a somewhat damp squib — having ended with a show of legal fireworks from the high-powered attorneys for the Bush and Gore camps. As the closing arguments commenced at 7 p.m. Sunday, Gore attorney David Boies sauntered up to the podium without notes and launched into a 40-minute defense of Gore's contest of Florida's election results. Measured and almost eerily calm, Boies put forth the key points in his client's case: That as many as 9,000 votes in Miami-Dade County have never been touched by human hands — only counted by fallible machines — and that legal statute protects Judge Sauls' ultimate ruling from GOP arguments that if one county's ballots are recounted, every single vote in Florida must be recounted.

It was a famously tough act to follow, but when Bush team leader Barry Richard took Boies' place, he more than lived up to his antecessor's precedent, delivering a fiery rebuttal, skewering the Gore team's logic and calling their whole case into question. "The Gore team is light-years away from carrying their legal burden. They proved nothing, presented no evidence, only speculation. There is no evidence of abuse of discretion by the canvassing boards — and that is what this lawsuit is based upon." There was no proof of any problems with voting machines, Richard argued (although nearly three hours later, during his closing argument rebuttal, Boies struck back at this claim, citing Votomatic creator John Ahmann's testimony of repeated machine failures or mishaps). Furthermore, there is no statute, Richard insisted, that absolutely requires a recount of any kind — let alone labor-intensive manual recounts. In the case of a request for a recount, Richard concluded, the state legislature must remain the ultimate arbiter.

Richard was trailed by Joe Klock, attorney for Katherine Harris, who remarked upon taking the podium, "Looks like I'm out of my league." And indeed he was. After Boies' and Richard's seamless reasoning, Klock's closing sounded juvenile and cloying. He mocked Gore's attempt to "pick and choose" ballots, votes and recounts, and argued there was no precedent to demand a recount. He also took up the primary refrain of the Republican respondents: If Gore wants to recount his votes, then every vote in Florida should be recounted.

A few hours later, Boies took the stage a second time, arguing his case in a rebuttal close, carefully dissecting his opponents' arguments and explicating complex legal terms in accessible terms. He passionately argued for counting the ballots, naming case after case as precedent, and quoting the Florida Supreme Court: "It is of paramount importance that every vote be counted and that the will of the people be determined."

By the time things wrapped up at 10:35 p.m., it felt as if every lawyer in Florida had made his case for or against Vice President Gore's contest of the Florida election results — in some cases more than once. Beyond the usual suspects, there were scads of seemingly extraneous attorneys — some representing disgruntled voters (somehow hoping to make a point by waving copies of "Animal Farm" in the air and quoting Joseph Heller and Lewis Carroll) and others arguing for the rights of beleaguered Florida electors. Whatever his ruling may be, Judge Sauls must be congratulated for his patience and indulgence.

Toward the end of the three-and-a-half-hour avalanche of verbiage, you could practically hear the eyelids fluttering. But it didn't really matter at that point. We'd heard the men of the hour, after all, and as for the rest of it — well, it was really just a lot of noise.