The Lawyers

Here are some of the lawyers’ main arguments:

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THEODORE B. OLSON

Representing: Bush

Pages filed: 86

Arguments:

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The Florida Supreme Court “overturned and materially rewrote elections laws.”

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The action violated the Constitution and a federal law that bolsters the finality of states’ choices of presidential electors as long as disputes were resolved according to laws enacted before the election.

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LAURENCE H. TRIBE

Representing: Al Gore

Pages filed: 73

Arguments:

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The result of the Florida election is like “a kind of photo finish that leaves people unsure who won.” A recount is “rather like looking more closely at the film of the photo finish. It’s nothing extraordinary.”

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PAUL HANCOCK

Representing: Florida attorney general

Pages filed: 39

Arguments:

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In the Florida Supreme Court case, “all that was before the court was ordinary statutory construction which must be--the result of it, whether this court would agree with it or disagree with it, must be respected by this court. That’s the very foundation of federalism.”

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JOSEPH KLOCK Jr.

Representing: Florida secretary of state

Pages filed: 23

Arguments:

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The law in Florida on election day was changed by the Florida Supreme Court’s Nov. 21 decision. “The secretary is not contesting the right of the Florida Supreme Court to change the law in Florida; she is simply pointing out that the law did change.”