WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 Expressing disbelief at the United States Supreme Court's order to halt the recount of votes in Florida, several prominent Democrats today said they feared that even if a count resumed, it was nearly impossible to finish it in time for Vice President Al Gore to wrest the White House from Gov. George W. Bush.
One after another, Democrats lashed out at the Supreme Court, and in interviews accused justices of inappropriately injecting themselves into the election.
"Right now, I'm not optimistic about anything," said Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. "This is the first time I have felt that what is evolving is a morass of uncertainty. It's hard for me to believe that the United States Supreme Court has a role in this. It just increases the polarization. How do we put the bricks together and work for the benefit of this nation?"
Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland said he was stunned.
"I just find it incredible," Mr. Cummings said. "It shocks the conscience. Scores of African-Americans and Jews and so many other people have been deprived of their vote being counted. You want to believe that the courts are not politicized but I think the American people have got to begin to wonder what's going on here.
"It's extremely disappointing," he added, "not so much for Gore, but for the American people. This is just so much bigger than Gore."
Leading Republicans, meanwhile, were newly jubilant, saying that their overriding objective has been to stop the count. And taking the opposite tack of the Democrats, they criticized the Florida Supreme Court for ordering a recount on Friday.
"This is a judicial misadventure of some significant proportion," Gov. Marc Racicot of Montana, a leading backer of Mr. Bush, said in Tallahassee, Fla., today about the state court ruling. "It goes even beyond the extraordinary limits of the court's previous attempt to abrogate Florida law. The decision in some respects is naοve and in other respects is almost absurd in its expectations of what can be accomplished in a very, very short period of time."
On the other hand, several Democrats upbraided the United States Supreme Court in language that was so harsh that it was reminiscent of the 1960's, when conservatives sought to impeach Chief Justice Earl Warren.
"The court, at least in my eyes, has damaged its credibility," said Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, who had traveled to Florida several days ago to appear on Mr. Gore's behalf.
"This is not just any court intervening," Mr. Kerrey said. "It would be one thing if this were the Warren court. This is the Rehnquist court. That court that has established in case after case the principle of state sovereignty. It's going to put them at odds with their own conclusions in the big Federalism case that's going on."
Mr. Kerrey said he doubted there was adequate time for the counting to resume and for Mr. Gore to climb back into serious contention. "I don't know how you get them going again," he said.
About the only thing that officials on both parties agreed on was that they felt like they were riding a roller coaster. On Friday night, Democrats expressed hope that the Florida Supreme Court's order of a recount would revive Mr. Gore's candidacy and the Republicans were dejected. By tonight, the two camps had reversed places.
"You can't feel optimistic for more than three hours in this process," said a top Gore strategist in Florida who earlier in the day had predicted that Mr. Gore would be president. "It's mind-blowing that the court would actually stop counting votes."
A senior Bush operative in Florida said he was more optimistic than he was this morning. But there have been so many twists and turns that he did not dare express too much confidence.
"I always prepare for the worst," the official said. "I never count anything until it's official. It's been a roller coaster for 32 days."
Before the Supreme Court ruling today, President Clinton weighed in and was among the Democrats who sounded relieved.
"The more people feel there was an accurate count," he told reporters at the White House, "the more legitimacy will be conferred on whoever the eventual winner is."
While several Democrats said they were again doubtful that the Supreme Court would order the counts to resume or, more important, that Mr. Gore could find a clear path to the White House they were unified in their anger at the courts. For that reason, perhaps, they did not seem ready to abandon Mr. Gore and some seemed to hold out some hope.
"Time is running out," said Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party. "You may very well see a decision from the Supreme Court that will finally rule that these hand counts need to be continued."
No matter the outcome in court, Democrats pointed out that under Florida's Sunshine Law, journalists and researchers eventually would examine the challenged ballots and make public their findings, possibly undermining the future president. They said this argument refuted the view of Justice Antonin Scalia that Mr. Bush and the country might be harmed by allowing the counting of "questionable" ballots.
But Mr. Torres expressed frustration at the latest twist. "Every turn there's a construction site that you've got to overcome," he said. "Every turn, there's a bridge that's been blown apart by the other side. It's a consistently emotional roller coaster for all of us that just doesn't seem to end."
Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York also said he was stumped by the move of the Supreme Court. "The Florida Supreme Court ordered that all votes be counted with a speedy timetable," he said, "and the Supreme Court ought to have a very good reason to overturn that logic. I await the Supreme Court's reasoning, but it seems hard to figure out why they would stop it."
Even so, given the wild shifts, Mr. Schumer was far from ready to pronounce the struggle as over. "Anyone who keeps saying, `Is this settled?' has been on a different planet for the last few weeks," he said.
Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York said he was worried that the court would only add to the partisan polarization. "I don't know where we're going to end up except divided," he said.
Expressing doubt that Mr. Gore had sufficient time left, Mr. Rangel said, "It's not the number of votes. It's not the law. It's time that's our problem, and this eats away from it."
One of the most pessimistic Democrats has been Senator Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey. He said he was disappointed in the Supreme Court's decision, but was hopeful that the move today would put a quicker end to the battle.
"The situation was becoming somewhat frightening," he said, "With the idea of competing slates of electors from Florida and the houses of Congress taking different posititons. The country is testing Constitutional machinery that has rarely been used and may not function as smoothly as the founders anticipated."
Several Democrats reiterated that they were more worried about the partisan divisions than the fate of Mr. Gore.
"I drove twice by the vice president's home today," Senator Feinstein said. "You see the Bush people on one side of the street and the Gore people on the other side. They both belong together. This nation can't go forward with a deep partisan divide. It's going to impact every thing we do."
-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000