Irreparable injury: What's the deadline?

[Richard D. Friedman]

At 03:40 PM 12/10/00 -0800, Mark Scarberry wrote:
>
 Apparently the 5 are
>nearly certain, because it is of course obvious that the Vice President (and
>the nation) will be irreparably harmed if the US S Ct prevents the Fla. S.
>Ct.'s scheme from being carried out and later determines that the Fla. S.
>Ct. was right. They must think that result is highly unlikely.

I wonder about that last point.  Obviously, any hope for the Dec. 12 safe
harbor is gone, but that may have been unrealistic anyway as of Saturday
morning.  Now what is the deadline?  The obvious one would be December 18,
when the electors must meet.  But do I gather that there's some precedent
for electors meeting on the appointed day and being certified later?
(Hawaii 1960?  Anything in 1876?)  Would that violate any federal law?  If
not, then I suppose there's no deadline before Jan. 5, and the loss of,
say, three days may not be so crucial.

Rich Friedman