Nearly four weeks after the presidential election, new court cases seem to be surfacing everyday in hopes of deciding our next president.

Tuesday brought two major blows for Vice-President Al Gore. Decisions by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Circuit Court have dimmed Gore’s chances of becoming president even further.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they would not rule by sending the case back to the Florida Supreme Court. In a unanimous decision, the court decided that the issues the Florida court put forward were too hazy and asked for further clarification.

“The Supreme Court gave `symbolic reassurance’ that the system is working,” said Dr. Ken Warren of the Political Science Department. “It really said nothing of any substance at all.”

The Florida Circuit Court ruled that Bush’s statewide victory would not be overturned. The judge rejected Gore’s request for thousands of ballots to be hand-counted throughout the state.

Despite these heavy losses for Gore, his best chance to become president through a court may lay in Seminole County, according to Warren. Gore is contesting whether 4,700 Republican ballots should be counted in that county. Democrats claim that personal-identification information was illegally provided on those ballots.

“Republicans were allowed to fill out necessary voter-identification information, when Florida law does not allow that,” said Warren.

If Gore prevails in his case in Seminole County, he could be a viewed as a figure of hypocrisy by his enemies. Throughout this dispute Gore has been an avid supporter of counting everyone’s vote.

“Ironically [Gore] could win by having Bush’s ballots thrown out,” said Warren.

These continuing and countless battles could give even the biggest of pundits a headache. According to a recent Gallop pole, two-thirds of Americans believe that this ordeal has gone on too long, and 60 percent believe Gore should concede to Texas Governor George W. Bush.

According to Warren, people should not be turned off due to the lengthiness of the election. “What is going on is not bad, the system is handling it. The Founding Fathers set the election and inauguration far apart to provide time for appeals. Public Opinion in this regard is meaningless.”