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• Thursday, January 8, 2009 11:24 AM

  @ Jestaplero

  The 7-2 opinion was that the recount method violated the 14th Amend.

  Even that's nonsense. While the cowardly per curiam majority claimed that seven justices found "constitutional problems:

  "Seven Justices of the Court agree that there are constitutional problems with the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court that demand a remedy."

  in fact, neither Breyer nor Souter did any such thing.

  In Part I, the per curiam states:

  "With respect to the equal protection question, we find a violation of the Equal Protection Clause."

  But neither Souter or Breyer "concurred with part I" but "dissented as to the remedy". They simply dissented. Period. They certainly didn't see anything that "demand[ed] a remedy", much less the faux remedy (that in fact caused the very problem they insisted was so troubling).

  Breyer even said: "And the more fundamental equal protection claim might have been left to the state court to resolve if and when it was discovered to have mattered."

  As I've often noted, the majority found a "problem" before the actual events under consideration even took place and even before there was any evidentiary record to decide on. Breyer noted that (as did Souter, in counseling that the court abstain from even getting involved).

  The majority opinion was just plain dishonest (and not just in this one respect). It stands as a candidate for one of the worst decisions of all time.

  Cheers,

  —Arne Langsetmo Read Arne Langsetmo's other letters
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