[Barney Gumble]

Their decisions are so blatantly partisan, it's quite disgusting. Look for another big Supreme Court decision.

[Huck]

I'd rather have them fix the machines now than have them do the recall, THEN have the court challenge, and then go through the whole chad counting fiasco again. Much better to get rid of the stupid punch card machines now. Seems to be based on Bush v Gore.

[FairOpinion]

Thanks all of you for the answer.

Well, it's too bad we can't recall the judges.

No wonder the Dems are fighting so hard to stop Bush from putting in judges, who would actually respect the law.

The Dems have packed the courts with a bunch of liberal judges, who rule whichever way the Dems prefer.

I have another question.

We used the same punch card machines in November. If they were good enough in November, how come they aren't good enough now? This ruling is absolutely preposterous. Could that be an argument in the appeal of this decision?

How can it be appealed? I read a few posts, which said it can be requested that all 9th circ. judges hear it, not just the 3, who ruled and it can be appealed to the Supreme Court. Who does the appealing? CA State? What if they decide not to appeal, can the people appeal?

Does it have to be appealed to the full panel of judges first, before appealing it to the Supreme Court?

[RichInOC]

The high, or rather low, point for me was when Robert Alton Harris was about to be executed back in '92, the first guy since we reinstated the death penalty (after thirteen years in prison...not a moment too soon). The Ninth kept issuing stays to hear these habeas corpus writs on evidence the defense said hadn't been heard, some of which, like Harris supposedly might have had fetal-alcohol syndrome, probably couldn't have been because nobody would have known to look for it when he was on trial. Anyway, the Ninth kept sending up stuff like that, in one case staying the execution while they were prepping Harris for the gas chamber. And the Supremes kept knocking them down. And finally, the Supremes sent down notice that they would accept no further stays other than their own. In other words, "Enough. We know the case by heart by now. He's guilty. He earned the death penalty. Let it go."