11/22/00 1:25 p.m.
Hypocrisy Watch
This time, it’s about the separation of powers.

By Mark R. Levin, former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese

rticle II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution provides, in relevant part: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the LEGISLATURE thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress…"

Notice, the U.S. Constitution doesn't confer the power to appoint electors on the states' supreme courts or chief executives. Instead, it specifically identifies the branch of government within a state that is granted the authority to appoint electors, i.e., the legislature.

Therefore, if the Florida legislature takes steps to appoint the electors who will cast their votes for president and vice president, as provided in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the Florida Supreme Court has no authority to review core separation-of-powers issues between the states and federal government in the operation of federal elections.

Not surprisingly, this part of the U.S. Constitution, like so many of our constitutional principles, e.g., the meaning of the words "high crimes and misdemeanors," is lost on America's journalists. Throughout the morning, the network news shows presented us with reporters who were regurgitating the political spin from Al Gore's campaign. NBC's Tim Russert, repeating an earlier refrain by NBC's Brian Williams, opined that if the Florida legislature dares to involve itself in the selection of electors, such an action would be the equivalent of a "nuclear" strike.

Let me see if I understand: The Florida Supreme Court should be treated with deference even when it violates that state's separation-of- powers doctrine, as it did last night when it rewrote Florida's election law on behalf of Al Gore; however, if the Florida legislature were to act in appointing electors to vote for president and vice president in compliance with the U.S. Constitution, it is supposedly acting in a way that offends our sensibilities.

That's nonsense.