Gov. Jeb Bush blasted a Florida congressman Friday for suggesting that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts be disqualified because of a brief meeting the governor and Roberts had during the 2000 presidential recount.
An expert in constitutional law then in the private sector, Roberts came to Tallahassee at his own expense to volunteer advice to Bush as the governor's older brother tried to clinch the election over then-Vice President Al Gore.
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Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat, said that meeting alone should disqualify Roberts.
"Ready, fire, shoot," Bush said Friday when asked about Wexler's statement. "Everything is off the top of his head. He has no idea of what our relationship is."
Bush said Friday that he didn't even remember Roberts when first asked about that 2000 visit earlier in the week.
"It was a very short meeting," Bush recalled, noting there were others in attendance, although he was unsure who they were. "It was not related to politics."
However, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, another Florida Democrat, said Friday she was skeptical about Bush's claims that the half-hour meeting had nothing to do with politics.
"I doubt he brought in John Roberts to advise him on his duties as governor," Wasserman Schultz said.
President Bush was ultimately declared the winner in Florida by 537 votes when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor. The state's 25 electoral votes gave him the victory over Gore.
Now in his second term, President Bush appointed Roberts to the federal bench in 2002 and nominated him Tuesday for the Supreme Court. The Senate must now decide whether to confirm him.
© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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