Yale Law students bring expertise to Florida fiasco

Dubbing themselves the "Yale Law Students Campaign for a Legal Election," these energized campaigners are working on several fronts, attempting to pass along pertinent information in order to protect the right of the courts to intervene in this year's election mayhem. After watching the formation of a analogous undergraduate organization that held a rally on Thurs., Nov. 9, the Law students felt that they could bring their special expertise to this issue. The information and political action campaign kicked off the next day in the Yale Law School Dining Hall, and since then has engendered a flurry of e-mails, urging participants to lobby through whatever peaceable and non-partisan means they have at their disposal.

Organizers are encouraging people to call Florida radio stations to voice their concerns and to contact their federal representatives. The group has also drafted an op-ed piece which defends the rights of the courts to intervene in the Florida ballot tabulation and disputes comments allegedly made by Bush's pointman in the Sunshine State, ex-Secretary of State James Baker. The organization has asked its members to submit the piece to their hometown newspapers.

"Since Tuesday, many politicians and others have suggested that it is inappropriate for the results of the election in Florida to be subjected to a legal challenge," the op-ed states. "This attitude amounts to a fundamental assault on the Voting Rights Act and the right to vote guaranteed by state and federal constitutions. The right to vote is the underpinning of our society. As the Supreme Court has stated, 'other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.' Equally important is the ability to enforce the right to vote. During the civil rights movement, people struggled and died not only for the right to vote itself, but also the right to pursue legal action if the vote was denied. What James Baker decries as 'unending legal wrangling' is the enforcement mechanism of our constitution."

Listing voting rights abuses, the Yale Law Students Campaign for a Legal Election asserts the need for the courts to redress them, saying that only under intense scrutiny will problems such as poorly designed ballots or racial discrimination surface.

The group is also protesting Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris' pronouncement that Palm Beach County's butterfly ballot fully conforms to state law. Their direct response: "It does not." The organization's literature also includes a three-page manifesto that outlines a legal argument for the voiding of the Palm Beach County election. Because of certain voting wrongs, any federal court judge, the document claims, is required to void the election and let the results be determined by a revote. It is a decision which, according to them, does not hand victory to either candidate but rather affirms "the voting rights of the citizens of the Great State of Florida."

The organization is positioning itself very carefully in an effort to remain outside party lines. Proclaiming their indifference to Al Gore or George Bush, it is calling on America to observe the rights of voters from disparate socioeconomic backgrounds. "Al Gore and George Bush are not the people whose rights may have been violated," the manifesto reads (although one of them will be very sore when this is all over).

The group, according to organizer Sarah Sundell, LAW '02, is attempting to remain as non-partisan as possible, though she realizes that statements made by members of the group do not represent the opinions of all. Sundell issued a statement saying, "There are many students of differing political affiliations doing all sorts of work to forward our goal. We do not plan to limit ourselves to one state or issue." As of right now, the group does not have a specific agenda, but rather is working on a "day- by-day, case by case" basis, in an effort to stop talking and start taking action, Sundell said. Interested Law students have been working concurrently in various capacities. No Yale faculty or administrators are involved, nor does the group have any appointed heads.

The Yale Law Students Campaign for a Legal Election has issued a call to arms. "We plan to remain organized until such point as the issues surrounding any and all voter irregularities and possible violations of voting rights have been resolved. We urge everyone who believes in a non-partisan, just, legal outcome of this election to participate in the ongoing debate across the country." Indeed, after the whole Florida fiasco is over, the Campaign for a Legal Election claims it wants to make sure that every vote, in the manner in which the voter intended, counts.

Photos of candidates courtesy cnn.com.

Photo of Yale Law School by David Gest.

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