What Did the Florida Legislature Direct?
To the best of my knowledge no case, prior to Bush v. Gore, had passed on the proper interpretation of the Article II, Section 1, clause 2 requirement that Florida shall appoint its presidential electors in the manner that the Florida legislature shall direct. [20] That question presumptively gives rise to many interpretive difficulties that were not raised in this case. To mention just two, it is not clear whether this provision requires that the manner for choosing electors be settled before the election or whether it allows Florida to change its mind after a popular election has been held but before the Electoral College meets. It would, to say the least, be very disconcerting to know that the Republican legislature could have voted to ignore the results of the popular vote if Gore had carried the state by one million votes. And if it could not intervene in that case, then could it intervene when the popular vote is much closer? For our purposes, however, these difficulties can be m
