V. Goliath The Trials of David Boies

ONE "Once it's over, it's over." 10:25 a.m., December 10, 2000, Westchester County Airport "Well, I have twenty-four hours," David Boies said, finally settling into his seat in the Learjet that was idling on the tarmac. The statement begged for a question, and I obliged. "To do what?" I asked from the seat across from him. "To learn the constitutional law," Boies replied matter-of-factly, his steely blue eyes staring ahead. On this morning, Day 33 of the postelection fight between Vice President Al Gore and George W. Bush, we were headed toward Washington, D.C., for the final court appointment that would decide who won the presidency in 2000. Each of the previous thirty-two days had presented a roller-coaster ride, swinging wildly often by the hour, for the opponents, and for the nation, which woke up the morning of November 7 to discover that the presidential race was too close to call. The state of Florida hung in the balance, with Gore pressing for recounts of the ballots and Bush opposing him at every turn. As Boies boarded the plane, I mentioned that I had caught part of his ABC appearance on This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts before leaving my Brooklyn apartment. He told me that was one of four Sunday shows he had taped, beginning at six-thirty that morning. Boies pulled out the draft of a legal brief that was due at four o'clock that afternoon at the U.S. Supreme Court; the case was scheduled for argument at eleven a.m. the next day. In all likelihood, the argument would be Gore's last chance to gain the White House. By ten-thirty, we were airborne. As Boies began to mark up the faxed pages in his hand, I noted the time that the draft brief had arrived at his home in Armonk9:59 a.m. He must have grabbed it just before leaving, along with the box of sourdough pretzels and blue duffel bag (which contained another box of pretzels in addition to a cheap blue suit, a blue striped shirt, and a blue knit tie). On this ride, I wouldn't have the opportunity to ask many questions. But I didn't need much explanation. It was clear that Boies would be arguing for Gore the next morning instead of Laurence Tribe, the Harvard Law School professor considered one of the country's most renowned constitutional scholars. Over the course of the Bush/Gore fight, Tribe had argued twice against the Republican claim that the Florida recounts violated the Constitution, on one of those occasions at the U.S. Supreme Court. Nominally, Boies was the Gore team's man in the Florida courts. But of course he was much more than thathe was their hero. So it seemed clear to me that Boies would take center stage for the final act, even though he had told reporters gathered for a hastily convened Saturday-afternoon press conference in Tallahassee the day before that he was "going home" to Armonk. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a bitter 54 split between the justices, had just voted to halt manual recounts across Florida and to hear Bush's case on Monday. Boies's work in the case was ostensibly finished. On the plane ride home to Armonk that Saturday, I had asked Boies whether he wanted to argue the case. "You always want to do an interesting case like that," he said, but added: "I would frankly rather not do it, given Larry's prior involvement. Larry will do a fine job." If asked, he said, he would advise the Gore team to stick with Tribe. "There's no reason to replace him, and if they were to ask me to do it, that's what I'd tell them." Still, as we parted company at the Westchester airport in theDonovan, Karen is the author of 'V. Goliath The Trials of David Boies', published 2007 under ISBN 9780375726552 and ISBN 0375726551.