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CNN Live At Daybreak

California Recall

Aired September 19, 2003 - 06:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, time for your dose of California politics. Oh, it's one entangled recall election, isn't it? A lot of people are awaiting a decision by the full Ninth District Court of Appeals. That decision could come today. The federal court is now looking at reconsidering the postponement of the October 7 election until March. If you remember, a three judge panel of the court issued the initial ruling. The ACLU argued that punch card ballots would disenfranchise some voters. The three judge panel agreed. Punch card ballots were ruled invalid by the federal courts after the 2000 presidential election.
It's confusing, is it?

So it's time for some Coffey talk on the recall.

Legal analyst Kendall Coffey live on the phone from Miami.

Good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, just to get this straight, the three judge panel, part of the Ninth District Court of Appeals, made this decision to postpone the vote. Now they're going to get together and make a decision on whether the entire panel will make a new decision?

COFFEY: Well, exactly. Where it stands right now is that the court on itself, the entirety of the court, which in this case means 24 judges, wants to consider whether or not it is going to have the case reheard by a larger group. So, 24 judges. That means you're going to need a majority of that 24 to say rehear the case.

If they do, then 11 judges will be selected, 10 at random, the other will be the chief judge, to actually redo the case.

COSTELLO: Twenty-four judges. So how many have to agree in order to rehear the case?

COFFEY: Presumably 13 and it's a very open question as to what they'll do. You may recall the Pledge of Allegiance case, Carol. A similar process. In that case, despite the outcry, the court ultimately did not reverse itself and, in effect, that one is on its way to the Supreme Court.

COSTELLO: So with 24 judges, will some kind of decision be made today? COFFEY: I think so because this has got so much public attention and concern, and the reality is the opinion of the three judges pretty much set out the issues. So the minute that was released, the court, the rest of the court really had a good opportunity to assess whether this was a decision that they wanted to let stand or not.

COSTELLO: OK, take two very quick questions. If a decision comes today, will this really be the final word?

COFFEY: No.

COSTELLO: It could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, right?

COFFEY: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: OK, and after all this is decided, couldn't the attorneys for one side or the other say that this was just too confusing of a process? And let's say the recall election goes through October 7, couldn't they debate that?

COFFEY: Well, as a lawyer I like to think we'll come up with all kinds of issues to argue, no matter what happens here. But the one thing that's clear to everybody is that this is potentially very disruptive. Carol, the election doesn't begin on October 7. The votes have already been coming in. Over 400,000 absentee ballots have arrived. So one of the things that's going to weigh very, very heavily is isn't this really too late to stop an election that, in a sense, already began weeks ago?

COSTELLO: Yes, and it's still ongoing, at least the election campaigning.

Kendall Coffey joining us live by phone from Miami this morning.

For a complete wrap-up from the campaign trail, be sure to watch Judy Woodruff's "Inside Politics." That airs today at 4:00 Eastern time, right here on CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 19, 2003 - 06:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, time for your dose of California politics. Oh, it's one entangled recall election, isn't it? A lot of people are awaiting a decision by the full Ninth District Court of Appeals. That decision could come today. The federal court is now looking at reconsidering the postponement of the October 7 election until March. If you remember, a three judge panel of the court issued the initial ruling. The ACLU argued that punch card ballots would disenfranchise some voters. The three judge panel agreed. Punch card ballots were ruled invalid by the federal courts after the 2000 presidential election.
It's confusing, is it?

So it's time for some Coffey talk on the recall.

Legal analyst Kendall Coffey live on the phone from Miami.

Good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, just to get this straight, the three judge panel, part of the Ninth District Court of Appeals, made this decision to postpone the vote. Now they're going to get together and make a decision on whether the entire panel will make a new decision?

COFFEY: Well, exactly. Where it stands right now is that the court on itself, the entirety of the court, which in this case means 24 judges, wants to consider whether or not it is going to have the case reheard by a larger group. So, 24 judges. That means you're going to need a majority of that 24 to say rehear the case.

If they do, then 11 judges will be selected, 10 at random, the other will be the chief judge, to actually redo the case.

COSTELLO: Twenty-four judges. So how many have to agree in order to rehear the case?

COFFEY: Presumably 13 and it's a very open question as to what they'll do. You may recall the Pledge of Allegiance case, Carol. A similar process. In that case, despite the outcry, the court ultimately did not reverse itself and, in effect, that one is on its way to the Supreme Court.

COSTELLO: So with 24 judges, will some kind of decision be made today? COFFEY: I think so because this has got so much public attention and concern, and the reality is the opinion of the three judges pretty much set out the issues. So the minute that was released, the court, the rest of the court really had a good opportunity to assess whether this was a decision that they wanted to let stand or not.

COSTELLO: OK, take two very quick questions. If a decision comes today, will this really be the final word?

COFFEY: No.

COSTELLO: It could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, right?

COFFEY: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: OK, and after all this is decided, couldn't the attorneys for one side or the other say that this was just too confusing of a process? And let's say the recall election goes through October 7, couldn't they debate that?

COFFEY: Well, as a lawyer I like to think we'll come up with all kinds of issues to argue, no matter what happens here. But the one thing that's clear to everybody is that this is potentially very disruptive. Carol, the election doesn't begin on October 7. The votes have already been coming in. Over 400,000 absentee ballots have arrived. So one of the things that's going to weigh very, very heavily is isn't this really too late to stop an election that, in a sense, already began weeks ago?

COSTELLO: Yes, and it's still ongoing, at least the election campaigning.

Kendall Coffey joining us live by phone from Miami this morning.

For a complete wrap-up from the campaign trail, be sure to watch Judy Woodruff's "Inside Politics." That airs today at 4:00 Eastern time, right here on CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com