But a rapid-fire series of rulings by lower courts later in the day suggested that however the high court rules, the battle could continue to play out in other venues.
In separate decisions Friday afternoon:
"Even accepting appellant's allegation, we conclude as a matter of law that the Palm Beach County ballot does not constitute substantial noncompliance" with election laws, the court ruled.
A hearing is set for Saturday in Leon County Circuit Court on an election contest by the Gore campaign, challenging the vote total in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties and asking for a recount of thousands of ballots.
The appeal was brought by the Bush campaign the Monday after the election in an effort to stop hand recounts then under way. The federal appeals court refused to stop the counts, but now will consider their constitutionality.
The Gore campaign is concerned that without a fast recount, it could run out of time before state electors are to be appointed Dec. 12.
But the developments in Florida were overshadowed for the day by the historic drama unfolding in Washington.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Bush's challenge of a Nov. 21 Florida Supreme Court ruling that forced Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to accept late returns submitted by Democrat counties conducting manual recounts.
The later returns shaved Bush's statewide lead from 930 votes – the total after state's Nov. 14 reporting deadline passed – to 537 votes, the total Harris cited when she declared Bush the winner of the state's 25 electoral votes Sunday evening.
Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, head of the Gore legal team, and lead Bush attorney Theodore Olson refused to guess how the Supreme Court might rule on whether the Florida Supreme Court overstepped its bounds in delaying vote certification. Both offered the opinion that the court is likely to rule quickly.
The two lawyers agreed that regardless of the outcome, there could still be additional legal action to challenge the outcome of the Florida election.
"We've argued that the Florida Supreme court overturned the work of the Florida legislature," Bush attorney Olson said at the conculsion of the oral arguments Friday, "and that the Florida Supreme Court does not have the right to do that because the [U.S.] Constitution vests the responsibility for determining the manner in which electors are appointed in the legislatures of the states."
"What we have said is that the Supreme Court of Florida took it out of the hands of the legislative scheme that was so carefully crafted by the legislature of Florida," Olson added, "and that the result was this process of manual recounts and changing of deadlines and things of that nature, and we have asked the court to set aside the consequences of what the Supreme Court did."
Tribe framed the same question differently. "The fundamental issue was whether anything in the United States Constitution prevents a state – through its highest court, when a very major election ends in a photo finish – from taking a closer look at those films of that photo finish by counting and recounting if necessary in order to get it right."
Tribe argued that the Florida Supreme Court had been careful in its ruling to directly place the case in the context of Florida law, which Democrats have argued had conflicting mandates: setting a firm date of seven days after the election for counties to submit final results to the secretary of state in one provision, but allowing for manual recounts and giving her discretion to wait for those counts on the other.
Tribe said he could not judge the court's mood, but he said: "I certainly didn't think there were any curveballs. There was [no issue] that disturbed the court that we were unaware of."
In that sense, he said, "it is always a relief to discover that the case doesn't have any time bombs in it."
Olson also would not venture a guess at how the court would rule, but he said the court clearly was focused on the important issues. Olson added, "I would characterize their reaction to our argument as being interested in what we had to say."
But both attorneys said that even if the court rules in favor of the Bush team, there would still likely to be room for Gore's attorneys to continue to fight the election results in court.
Tribe said the Republicans are arguing that "this court should turn back the clock to November 14 [the original certification date] and then declare that all the contests that are now being waged over ballots are – guess what – out of time. And that I think is not going to happen.
"The most that would happen is that there would be different set of numbers to start with. There would be a gap of 930 votes to make up, I think, instead of 537."
Olson said that overturning the Florida Supreme Court would certainly eliminate some of the arguments Gore's lawyers are using to attack the final certification, but admitted there could be other issues left standing.
"There are several grounds for the contests down there," Olson said.
"What [a favorable ruling] would do is it would set aside the 500 or so ballots that came out of Broward County, it would end the issue about whether there should have been a partial recount in Palm Beach County, because if we are successful then the end of that process would have occurred on Nov. 14."
Olson added that if the court rules in his favor, "the grounds for a contest that Miami-Dade should have done a manual recount would also be taken away. So it would affect a number of the aspects of the contests, [but] I don't know what [other] issues are involved there."
Olson and Tribe said they expected the high court to rule quickly.
"The court obviously was well prepared on very short notice. ... I would expect that they would rule soon," Olson said.
Tribe said, "I would think that being fully aware of the urgency of this case, it certainly won't take more than a few days. ... I wouldn't even be surprised to see a decision Monday or Tuesday."
While the lawyers sparred in court and before a tree of media microphones, thousands of Gore and Bush supporters clashed in tense but mostly peaceful demonstrations in the street in front of the Supreme Court.
Early in the morning, pro-Bush forces held a larger presence, shouting down the handful of early-arriving pro-Gore protesters. When the two sides confronted each other face-to-face, the Capitol Police moved in, building a cordon of helmeted officers between the two sides.
Individual demonstrators who strayed to the opposing side were shepherded back to their flock by police officers, who could be heard explaining that they were trying to keep the sides divided to keep the peace.
But the uneasy peace turned chaotic with the arrival of hundreds of activists led on a march though the streets of Washington by Jesse Jackson from the Justice Department to the Supreme Court.
Led by Jackson, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Patricia Ireland, executive director of the National Organization for Women, and other leftists, the march called for a complete recount of the Florida ballots and for an investigation by Justice Department officials into unsubstantiated claims of discrimination and intimidation against minorities during the state's voting.
Once the procession came within view of the court building and the gathered protesters, pro-Bush demonstrators showered Jackson's supporters with taunts.
"Count them again and you'll lose again. Go home, Jesse," cried one group of Republican boosters.
Upon reaching the front of the Supreme Court building, Jackson ordered the crowd of thousands to stop and kneel in prayer, despite police orders to continue.
Police shouted at counterdemonstrators and journalists to clear the street to make way for the marchers, but the clamor only attracted more onlookers. Officers finally started grabbing reporters and other onlookers and pushing them back to the curb.
After some tense minutes of silent prayer, the procession resumed and the marchers gathered on a lawn set between the Supreme Court building and the U.S. Capitol. Pro-Gore demonstrators shouted in Jackson's wake, "No justice, no peace; no count, no justice." Bush partisans shouted back, "Bush is president" and "Gore must concede."
Jackson's marchers moved to the Capitol lawn, where Jackson called for a recount that includes all ballots, including those military ballots Democrats had discarded for minor inconsistencies.
While the dispute raged outside the court and the justices gaveled the beginning of oral argument, a quiet line of hundreds of citizens snaked along the side of the building. The court reserved 50 seats for members of the public – most of whom had slept the night in line – to watch the entire proceeding, and 30 or so seats were set aside for rotating groups of citizens. Each group entered and was allowed to watch for about five minutes before being hustled out.
Not all the action was in court. The Republican-led Florida Legislature made plans to convene next week to name its own slate of electors for Bush if it appears that court challenges will delay their appointment beyond Dec. 12 or if Gore succeeds in overturning the certified result for Bush.
That, too, would likely end up in court if the Legislature proceeds.
An unnamed Bush aide was quoted Friday by CNN as saying Bush did not want the Legislature to act "precipitously" and anticipated that any action by the Legislature would be "confirmatory" of the popular vote.
Opinion polls show that while a majority of Americans believe Bush has won the election, a majority also opposes the Florida electors being chosen by the Legislature.
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