Nightmare Scenario

[mik3cap]

The man whose books taught me about computers and operating systems (Andrew Tanenbaum, currently running electoral-vote.com) posits this nightmare scenario:

"Should the election end up in the Supreme Court, it is not known whether Rehnquist will particpate in the case and vote on the outcome. Should he decline to participate due to ill health, the deadlock in the country might end up in a Court itself deadlocked 4-4. In such an event, the lower court ruling stands but no legal precedent is set. An alternative scenario is that Chief Justice Rehnquist resigns and that President Bush makes a recess appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation. If Bush were to appoint a new justice without Senate confirmation who then cast the deciding vote to make Bush president I fear for the future of the country. Let us hope somebody wins big today with no litigation. Do your part and vote."

Comments

[theantidj.livejournal.com]

it actually seems unlikely that things would go back to the supreme court. Most of the justices involve say that it was a mistake to even hear Bush v. Gore. Also, even if it did, there'd be no way that even Bush would do something like make a recess appointment that handed him the election. He may be an idiot, but he's not that stupid.