"Harris should certify NOW!" Anything wrong w/ this argument?

[PaladinX13]

Legal/Political experts, is there anything wrong with his argument? If it is win/win then why hasn't the Bush Campaign done it yet? The Court of Public Opinion is the only obstacle I see... is there any other?

Found here:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2000/11/18/235758.shtml

--
Ignore the Court: Harris Should Certify Bush
Christopher Ruddy
Sunday, Nov. 19, 2000

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris needs to comply with Florida state law and certify Gov. George W. Bush the winner of the Florida election, without delay.
If she doesn’t, I fear that Bush has lost his best chance to gain the presidency, which he fairly and squarely won.

Time and delay favor Gore.

The notoriously partisan Democratic Florida Supreme Court understands this point.

This is why the court issued an injunction Friday to stop the certification of Bush this weekend.

Harris has every right to follow the explicit instructions of Florida law, which state that she is to certify the winner on Saturday afternoon after the count of the absentee ballot.

The Florida Supreme Court, whose duty is to interpret the law, overstepped its bounds by ordering the secretary of state to break the law.

The secretary of state should ignore this judicial intrusion into her jurisdiction.

If it has a problem with her certification, the Supreme Court can attempt to overrule her decision, but what penalty can it impose on her for complying with Florida law?

The truth is that once Bush is certified the winner, it will be very difficult to overturn the result. Pressure will likely mount for Gore to concede.

If Harris takes the initiative and certifies Bush, I believe most Americans will rally around her for bringing an end to this national nightmare.

The Democrats and the liberal media know Harris has the power within her hand to bring this matter to a conclusion and end Al Gore’s gambit to steal the presidency.

This is why the Gore people are making not-so-veiled threats to investigate Harris, why they are making wild accusations against her and the major media has been demonizing her.

They fear her, so, following Carville’s advice, they are attempting to destroy her.

The Bush camp and Harris have nothing to lose and everything to gain by having Bush certified pursuant to Florida law.

Gore has everything to gain by having the Supreme Court of Florida delay and likely vote in favor of including the manual recount.

 

[sigmund]

I am not a lawyer, but I sometimes play one on the net.

I see a couple things wrong in the article. One, as some of the TV lawyers have pointed out, the Sec. of State has the authority to use her discretion in accepting or rejecting recounts after considering the evidence. If she rejects the recounts before they are completed, it weakens her position, in that it could be argued that she did not consider the evidence. From a legal standpoint, it would appear that she would be on much more solid ground to wait for the recounts to be done before rejecting them.

Two, it is not true that if she certifies Bush, it would be very difficult to overturn. If she does anything before the recounts and the appeals are done, she is much more likely to be challenged as acting contrary to the law. Discretion is like taste; you may not agree, but you can't say it is wrong. If I exercise my discretion by saying that I like chocolate ice cream best, you can't dispute my statement. If I say that chocolate is better than pistachio, and I have never tasted pistachio, my decision is obviously flawed. If she certifies the Bush Electors without jumping through all the hoops first, the Florida Atty. General, a Democrat, could find her guilty of violating Florida law and certify the Gore Electors. The US Congress would then have to decide which set of Electors to accept.

 

[Tshoes]

Ruddy article

I agree with Ruddy, I can't figure out why, the repubs haven't pulled out of the recount, if they were not there to oversee, then NO credibility could be given the outcome of the manual count.
Also, Katherine Harris, should disreguard the Supreme courts injunction, and do her job, and in the time allowed by the State Constitution.
By kowtowing to the S C decisions, she has LOST the momentum.
The Law is/was on her side...........who cares if the Dem's think she acted/acts precipitously?.
She is bound by the Constitution of Fla to certify the LEGAL tally...........which she should have done.
If the SC justices then have a problem with that, then let them argue the merits against their OWN Constitution.
She will have fulfilled her lawful duties.
The rule of law, would have been followed, and the monkey is / would be on the back of the SC justices.......