Given the highly contentious nature of the presidential vote count, it is critical that the highest court in the land now be heard. A premature concession by Gore would render the case before the Court moot. Third, and most important, a careful and deliberative resolution of the Florida vote count is essential to dilute the venom that has been injected into the country's political bloodstream. It makes the impeachment battle look like child's play. Yet that is precisely the reverse of our constitutional design.
Due process is paramount.
No individual or party is entitled to public office, whatever the projection of the networks on election night. Courts are to be judged by the nature and quality of their decisions, not reflexively dismissed as bastions of partisan hacks. The time has come to end the permanent campaign, to push the public relations specialists and ideological activists to the sidelines and pursue a reasonable conclusion to a very difficult situation. A satisfactory resolution will require widespread acceptance that the election resulted in a dead heat, inevitable errors in vote counting make it impossible to determine who ''really won,'' and both Bush and Gore have reasonable grounds for believing themselves the victor. The least damaging and ultimately most acceptable way of resolving the impasse is to achieve as accurate and fair a count of the Florida vote as possible in a manner provided for by statute and sanctioned by the courts.