Laurence Tribe, lawyer for Vice President Al Gore campaign, makes a statement outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington November 28, 2000. Democrat Al Gore's lawyer urged the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to uphold a ruling that extended Florida's deadline for reporting hand-counted ballots in the state's presidential vote, dismissing Republican George W. Bush's challenge to the extension as "insubstantial." In 50 pages of written arguments submitted with the high court ahead of a Friday hearing on the contested Florida vote, Tribe said the Florida Supreme Court did not overstep authority by extending the deadline for certifying the election results and ordering that hand-recounted ballots be included in the final tally.

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