Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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How Do You Get to the Supreme Court?
Practice. Law.

Tuesday, December 12, 2000

(Go to the Mullings Update page for the
latest from Florida)

On assignment from the Mullings Director of Standards and Practices, I went to the Supreme Court, Monday, to watch the show outside the actual courtroom.

Here are some notes, all true.

At about 10:00 am the number of people with pro-Gore signs and the number of people with pro-Bush signs were approximately equal. Shortly after ten, the AFL-CIO weighed in with about 50 reinforcements. A few minutes later people holding signs suggesting that the bricklayers' union was backing Gore in the current case also showed up.

This made the Gore-Bush ratio about 2-1 which they maintained for the next two hours.

One woman was holding a sign which said, "Look Out Al, Here Comes the Controlling Legal Authority."

Another person had a sign with a large color photograph of Mr. Gore (obviously doctored) with little yellow pieces of paper around this mouth. The legend was: "Got Chad?" The Milk Producers have not yet filed suit.

As I made my way from one side of the Court building to the other, a man was chanting: "1-2-3-4; Count the Votes!" I looked at a reporter walking the other way and said, "Ah! Blank verse."

A middle aged couple, carrying Gore signs, were each sporting one of the orange ribbons which volunteers were handing out to the Democratic faithful. "Why are they orange?" I asked. The woman said, "Because it's Florida." The man said, "It was the only color left."

AFL-CIO president, John Sweeney showed up. Prior to making his way to the broadcast positions he was studying a paper which was headed: "Sample Talking Points; Week of December 11." So much for independent thought.

A man brought a mule to the festival. The mule's name was "40 Acres." The man who owns the mule, John Boyd, said he was the president of the Black Farmers' Association. He explained the connection between the mule on the sidewalk and the proceedings inside, but I didn't get it.

At shortly before 11:00 - the time of the oral arguments - the Capitol Police brought in their own reinforcements. There was a good deal of chanting, and some shouting, but no one seemed to be taking things too far. The cops lined the sidewalks on both sides of First Street mostly to keep people from spilling over into traffic.

The rules were, you could stand on the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court building. Or, you could stand on the grass behind the sidewalk on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol across the street. But you could not stand on the sidewalk across the street (you had to keep moving) and you could not stop IN the street.

I asked a cop with lots of brass on his hat if they had given any thought to blocking off First Street. "No," was his definitive answer. If only the nine Justices would be as economical.

I sat on a bench in front of the broadcast positions across the street from the Supreme Court building next to an old gent who had a bunch of Gore signs. He suggested he might buy himself a portable television to bring to events like this.

I noted we were about three feet from the people he would otherwise be watching on his television. He agreed and turned around to listen to Fox's Tony Snow. Another blow struck for collegiality.

A Bush supporter was walking around with a hand-drawn version of the Palm Beach County butterfly ballot saying, "Listen to the butterflies � listen to the butterflies." I caught the eye of a cop who, much as a butterfly might, slightly raised and lowered his eyebrows.

One last sign sighting: A woman was wearing a sandwich board which said, "Outlaw the Electoral College." Right next to her was a guy wearing black judicial robes and a hat as you might see in Mongolia carrying a sign which said, "Outlaw Circumcisions, Not the Electoral College."

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