US Supreme Court closely questions lawyers

The nine US Supreme Court justices closely questioned lawyers for Vice-President Al Gore and Governor George Bush yesterday during a historic 90minute hearing which could help one of the presidential candidates reach the White House.

During the hearing inside the highest court, hundreds of Gore and Bush supporters, who were kept apart, paraded outside shouting slogans. Some enthusiasts had been queuing over 24 hours for the 50 seats allocated inside to the public.

The attendance in the courtroom included Mr Gore's four children, Senator Edward Kennedy and the Gore campaign manager, Mr William Daley.

TV cameras were not allowed inside but the court, for the first time, allowed an audiotape of the proceedings to be made and played immediately afterwards on various media outlets.

The court did not indicate when it would give its ruling.

The court was hearing an appeal on behalf of Mr Bush against a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court which allowed hand recounts to continue beyond the normal deadline for certifying the official result. As a result, Mr Gore was able to reduce Mr Bush's 930-vote lead by machine count to 537 votes.

Mr Bush's lawyers have argued that the Florida Supreme Court violated the US constitution in extending the count deadline and forbidding the Secretary of State, Ms Katherine Harris, from declaring the official result during the time laid down in Florida law. The Bush lawyers claim that the Florida court thereby enacted new law instead of interpreting the law.

Mr Gore's lawyers argued that the Florida court acted correctly and was merely reconciling conflicting statutes in state law.

The US Supreme Court asked both sides to state what would be the consequences if it decided that the Florida court had been wrong to give an extended time for hand recounts.

A court decision in favour of Mr Bush would not oblige Mr Gore to drop his present legal action contesting the official result of the Florida election and asking for another recount of disputed ballots. But if the court comes out strongly against the earlier hand recounts, there would be increased pressure on Mr Gore to concede the election.

Whoever wins in Florida gets its 25 Electoral College votes thus reaching the 270 vote majority required to be elected president when the college votes on December 18th.

The Whit House said yesterday that President Clinton was chatting privately when he reportedly said that if all the votes in Florida were counted, Mr Gore would win the presidential election. The Ottowa Citizen reported on Thursday that Mr Clinton made the remarks in conversation during a book launch in Washington.

White House spokesman, Jake Siewert, said the President "was just chatting with a group of people about the election".

Meanwhile, a second truckload of ballots was transported to the circuit court in Tallahassee, Florida, where Mr Gore's challenge to Mr Bush's certification as the winner in the state is being heard.