Help verifying justice's id during B v. G argument

Howard Gillman gillman at RCF-FS.USC.EDU
Mon Jan 15 22:10:39 PST 2001


Your help, please...

During the Bush v. Gore oral argument there's a great moment when Souter is asking Boies to assume that there is unconstitutional variation in the vote-counting standards, and Souter says that if this is true and we think we need to remedy this "we would have a responsibility to tell the Florida courts what to do about it.  On that assumption, what would you tell them to do about it?"

Boies says, "Well...."  He then pauses for about 4-5 seconds and says, "I think that's a very hard question."  (Laughter.)

Then a justice says, "You'd tell them to count every vote."  (Laughter.)

Boies says: "I would tell them to count every vote." (Laughter.)

In one transcript that justice is identified as Souter, but I could swear, listening to it, it sounds like Scalia.  (He actually says it twice.)  It comes at around 60 minutes into the oral argument.

Does anyone know for sure which justice said, "You'd tell them to count every vote"?

Sorry to bring back unhappy memories.  But I need to know for a reason other than my sheer amusement.

Please respond off-line.

Howard Gillman <gillman at usc.edu>



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