Whats the Law in Contested Elections?
Aired November 11, 2000 – 8:18 a.m. ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. MILES O’BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Injunctions, lawsuits and restraining orders, all part of the legal process not known for speed, normally. Our next guest is an expert on legal procedure in contested elections. William Canfield is an election lawyer now in private practice who worked for many years on Capitol Hill. He joins us live now from Washington. Mr. Canfield, thanks for being with us. WILLIAM CANFIELD, ELECTION LAWYER: My pleasure, Miles. O’BRIEN: Let’s talk about the report this morning that the Bush campaign has authorized Jim Baker, who is their point person in Florida, to seek an injunction to stop the hand counting. What sort of legal traction would an effort like that have? CANFIELD: Well, he’ll have to show, or the lawyers in Florida for the Republican Party will have to show some irreparable harm to the interests of the party or to their nominee, George
