Monday, December 11, 2000

11th Circuit Court of Appeals Issues Injunction That Prohibits Use of Manual Recounts in Florida Voters' Case

At the request of three Florida voters, on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 9) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit issued an injunction prohibiting Florida election officials from recertifying the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes based on the results of any manual recounts, pending a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on whether to take up the Florida voters appeal. Because the Supreme Court has yet to act on that appeal, the injunction remains in effect.

The voters, who are represented by the James Madison Center for Free Speech, requested the injunction on Friday, December 8, as a result of the Florida Supreme Court's decision on that day that would have delivered the election to Vice President Gore by today. Thus, the appellate court issued the injunction to prevent a change in the election results before the U.S. Supreme Court could act.

In a separate action, also on December 9, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted an appeal (Bush v. Gore) by George W. Bush of the Florida Supreme Court decision. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay that stopped the manual recounts ordered by the Florida Supreme Court.

Many press reports have confused either of two lawsuits brought by the Bush campaign (Bush v. Gore and Siegel v. LePore) with the Florida voters' case (Touchston v. McDermott). It was the three Florida voters who requested injunctive relief from the 11th Circuit, not George W. Bush. Also, the Florida voters did not request a stop to the actual process of manual recounts, but only for an injunction to block the certification of tallies based on such recounts, and that is the injunction that the 11^th Circuit granted.

"We are gratified that the 11th Circuit recognized that Florida voters would suffer irreparable harm if the results of unconstitutional manual recounts were used to determine the winner in Florida," stated James Bopp, Jr. , General Counsel for the James Madison Center. "Today's oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court demonstrated that the justices are very troubled by the arbitrary and shifting standards under which the Florida law allows votes to be counted - the violation of equal protection that has been at the heart of our suit since we filed it on November 13."

The James Madison Center for Free Speech is a public interest organization that defends the rights of citizens to participate in our democracy. The Madison Center's briefs in Touchston can be viewed on the Center's website, www.jamesmadisoncenter.org.