Page "Bush v. Gore" Paragraph 39

Michael W. McConnell has written that the U. S Supreme Court's decision on December 12 " may have reached the right result for the wrong reason.

" McConnell points to the Florida Supreme Court's December 11 opinion, which characterized December 12 as an " outside deadline ".

Here is the pertinent excerpt from the December 11 opinion of the Florida Supreme Court: However, according to Nelson Lund, one might argue that the Florida Supreme Court was discussing the " protest provisions of the Florida Election Code, whereas the issues in Bush v. Gore arose under the contest provisions.

" Likewise, Peter Berkowitz has written that, " Perhaps it would have been more generous for the Court to have asked the Florida court on remand whether ' outside deadline ' referred to contest-period as well as protest-period recounts.

" Abner Greene has pointed to evidence that " the Florida Supreme Court thought all manual recounts – whether protest or contest – must be completed no later than December 12.

" Nevertheless, Greene concluded that, " lack of clarity about the Florida Supreme Court ’ s views on the safe-harbor provision should have resulted in a remand to that court for clarification ," in addition to the remand of December 4.

The Court in Bush v. Gore did remand the case instead of dismissing it, but the remand did not include another request for clarification.