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CNN Legal Analyst Greta Van Susteren on U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Florida election dispute

CNN Legal Analyst Greta Van Susteren

CNN Legal Analyst Greta Van Susteren has been closely watching the U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court proceedings in Florida's contested presidential election.

CNN.com: Does today's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court mean that the Florida Supreme Court must take another look at its decision extending the deadline for the vote certification?

Greta Van Susteren: There's now a case without a judgment, and so they've got to give it a judgment, so they've got to give it a decision. But they've been given a blueprint from the United States Supreme Court as to how to decide it so it would surprise me if they deviated from the path that was set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court because they are not looking to get reversed.

CNN.com: What was the guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court?

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Greta Van Susteren: They wanted to know how the Florida Supreme Court decided the case: did they see their authority as stemming from the Florida Constitution or from the Florida Legislature and that's profoundly important because its' got to divine from the Florida Legislature because the (U.S.) Constitution says it's the legislature that chooses the rules and regulations by which we choose the president of the United States.

CNN.com: What impact could the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling have on Judge Sauls' decision?

Greta Van Susteren: It's not clear what impact. It might have no impact because it's about the protest phase; it's not about the contest phase. Remember, Judge N. Sanders Sauls is involved in the contest phase. This is the protest phase and the certification that's in the U.S. Supreme Court. And under Florida election law, you have a protest phase where you basically say, 'I need the votes recounted' and you go to the counters that do it and you either like what they do or you don't like what they do. The counters then send the numbers to the secretary of state. The secretary of state certifies them and if you don't like the results you can go to court, and that's the contest phase. So it may be irrelevant except for those few votes, those 550 votes that Gore picked up in Broward County between November 14 and November 26 in the protest phase.

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