John,

>Let me ask you this....what does it really mean that you cannot change the rules after election day? What rules are we talking about? And, does the whole recount issue come into play as far as the statute is concerned.

I think that's the crux of the whole matter before the Supremes. By reading the brief from Bush's lawyers, it seems to me that they are focusing on the Florida Supreme Court's arbitrary choice of the 26th as the new deadline for county returns to be sent in, maintaining that their decision rewrote the law and thus violated the US law about selecting electors according to law enacted before election day, and the law saying that the legislature has the authority to specify the rules.

If the US Supremes say that moving the deadline is just a court properly reconciling conflicts in the Florida statutes, and not rewriting the law or usurping the legislature's authority, Bush loses the case, which does not affect the certification.

IMO. :-)