In a nation that dreams it lives by the rule of law, those who stoop to conquer and their supporters are of course making claims on a daily basis of what the law mandates in the Florida vote count boondoggle. Two of the most recent examples — the claim that Florida law does not in fact give the Legislature the authority to mount a slate of electors if the results of the vote have not been certified by the deadline; and the argument that, in the Seminole County absentee ballot controversy, Florida law requires that all the absentee ballots be thrown out if some are found to be tainted. Of course, there’s that famous inconsistency about deadlines for recounts that started this whole thing off in the first place. In the face of the predictable partisan attempts to co-opt the law for one’s own ends, it’s inevitable for the courts to be involved sooner or later. But it appears that when the going gets tough for conservative politicans, the conservative jurists in the federal courts get going to explain why technical election-law provisions must take precedence when they help Bush win the White House, but should be set aside if they assist Gore’s case. consortiumnews