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Hi Everyone, This morning, a colleague and I were talking about our morning walk to the Library. She had ventured to walk right in front of the Supreme Court, while I took the path in front of the Capitol, with the Supreme Court at arm's length. I asked her to write what she had seen. Mary Lou Reker, the person behind Today in History, obliged and the result is below. You are in for a treat! Judy Morning Walk This chilly morning I dropped my eleven year old at school then took the metro to Union station on my way to work at the Library of Congress. Over the outstretched arm of the woman next to me, I tried to read the headlines of her Washington Post. The presidential election comes before the Supreme Court at 11:00 am today, again. "Judge Scalia has a relative working for Bush. Katie Couric said so," the woman tells me. Just over a week ago, I drove into work, concerned I would not find parking because of the crowd of reporters, media trucks, police, lawyers, and other assorted citizens in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Now I knew it would be the same scene again but at least I'd be walking. O.K. So I exit Union Station, cross a little park and head up First Street to pass between the Capitol (on my right) and the Supreme Court (on my left). I am thinking, did I get this right? Did the Supreme Court of the United States, one week ago today, issue a unanimous decision that in effect stated it was neither in favor nor against the Florida State Supreme Court decision to recount certain presidential ballots in certain Florida counties? Didn't the Supreme Court of Florida decide in favor of recounts. Hasn't the U.S. Supreme Court now halted these recounts? "Which way to the Supreme Court?" a diminutive woman with bright brown eyes asks me. "Up this street," I say and we walk along together. "What do you think is going to happen?" she asks me. I reiterate my mental chronology of events out loud - performing a reality check of sorts - not really answering the question. " What do _you think is going to happen?" I ask her. "I think Bush wants to win no matter what it takes. No matter what." We pause at a stop light. I see what could be 80 or 100 photographers with their cameras arrayed on tripods off to my right on the edge of the Capitol grounds. The woman mentions "corruption." I wonder how many votes are lost every election by loose counting practices, fuzzy logic, or zippers. Testing her sanity, I ask if she hopes to get a seat in court to hear the arguments being presented. "No. No," she says. After judging her sane I was curious. "What brings you here then?" "I just want to see what's going on. I work for the AFL-CIO." The unions are pro-Gore," I say. "Most, but not all," she smiled and drifted into the portion of the crowd carrying banners. I see about 250 or so people standing on the Supreme Court grounds, mainly of TV crews, Capitol Hill police, and folks carrying signs. I see both pro-Gore and pro-Bush placards. I swing around for just a moment to get the full view of the scene. No one has been allowed to go up the Supreme Court steps except the police. So everyone is standing close to the street. It is comfortable, not at all scary, walking through the animated crowd. I see crewman setting up hot coffee and a dozen or more bagged lunches (breakfasts? snacks?) for a television crew. I see a weather worn technical assistant in a new black leather jacket talking animatedly into a very small cell phone. I see lots of trucks microwave dishes and a number of on-camera reporters in front of cameramen primping and looking well dressed - a man in a camel coat, a woman in a navy blue coat with beautiful black leather gloves. "Those folks are from CBS," another pedestrian says to me. We step into the crosswalk together. "I can't follow it all. It is very hard to follow," she says. "But it's very exciting," I say. "Just count the votes," she responds. "It would be ironic if Bush halts the recount but would have won the recount," I venture. " What is going on here?" she says as we pull open the huge brass doors of the Library of Congress and walk into its warmth. Mary Lou Reker Dec. 11, 2000