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P: I think that was before you had finished, but it would have probably been that
 day.

M: Of course, this was the second order issued by Judge Lewis in a different
 lawsuit, or the same lawsuit?

P: It was in the appeal. In other words, the first case is obviously McDermott v.
 Harris, so he rules that she must use her discretion. That is appealed, and then
 he rules that she did use her discretion.

M: Well the thing is, of course, the appeal would have been to the first district court
 of appeals in Tallahassee. So, the first district would not have had an opportunity
 to rule on our appeal at that point. As a technical point, if we took an appeal from
 his order, there's a question whether he had jurisdiction to do anything since we
 appealed his order, but he went ahead and did what he did. It's coming back to
 me now. You're saying he made a finding that she properly exercised her
 discretion in denying our request for an extension.

P: Yes, and the way he put it in his judgement, and I did talk to Judge Lewis, he
 said the way he viewed it, according to what the law said, it was not my place to
 tell her what to do, she's secretary of state, she knows what the law is, she
 certainly has an option. She could have, in his view, determined that you could
 have had three extra days or whatever, but she decided, as she had the right to
 do legally, that she was going to adhere to the seven day legal statute.

M: Surprise, surprise.

P: [Laughing.] Although technically, and legally, she was correct.

M: Well, if you look on one page of the statute she was correct; if you look on
 another page of the statute ... See, and this is the point that I made at the
 meeting, in cases where someone has discretion to do something or not to do
 something, there are limits to that discretion. The discretion is never unbridled;
 there have to be standards. You know, you read decisions made by a trial judge,
 and usually it's evidentiary questions, and the appellate court will say, well, it was
 within the sound discretion of the trial court to do this or not to do this, or to admit
 it under these circumstances. In the absence of an abuse of that discretion, we
 will not set aside the decision made by the judge. Well, looking at the whole
 picture here, I mean here you've got the secretary of state who was very publicly
 instrumental in the election campaign of George Bush, one would think that she
 would want to bend over backwards to avoid giving the appearance of being a
 partisan, wouldn't one?


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