Is Joseph Klock the Rosencranz and Guildenstern of this tragic saga or what? I was trying to decide whether he was the Rosencranz or the Guildenstern but then I decided he was oafish and clumsy and ineffectually devious enough to be both. (Klock, of course, is the attorney for Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.)
In the first run through before the Florida Supremes Klock’s strategy seemed to be to get in the face of the Justices as much as possible and pepper his shaky legal arguments with throw-away lines from Hardball.
He did a bit more of that today. But apparently the Cosmic Director of this sorry little show wanted to add a pinch more comic relief and had Klock consecutively misnaming Justices Stevens and Souter (calling Justice Stevens Justice Brennan and Justice Souter Justice Breyer.) Even Scalia couldn’t resist whacking him around a bit. The Supremes momentarily broke out of their heated tones to have some fun ritually hazing this hapless rube.
(I saw Olson flub a name last week, addressing one Justice when he was being addressed by another. But addressing a dead man was a particularly canny move on Klock’s part.)
There wasn’t much fun to be had in the Court for Gore-ites today. But at least Klock gave everyone a good laugh.
P.S. Did you notice Rehnquist repeatedly asking Boies whether the Florida Supremes ordered the statewide recount in the interests of ‘fairness.’ I think that was a trap. But Boies seemed to fall into it. I suspect Rehnquist thinks that decision in the interest of ‘fairness’ would on its face constitute something more than the straight interpretation of statutes that is all the US Supremes say the law allows.
This is a classic bait-and-switch. If they try to make it fair they’re changing the rules. If they don’t it’s an equal protection violation.
