"I wish it had been televised," Dershowitz said. "It would show that litigation can be orderly and expeditious."

Tribe declined to predict how the legal issues would eventually be resolved, but added that "the deadline for everyone is December," when the Electoral College will formally decide the winner of the election.

Meanwhile, distinguished scholars and policy practitioners at the ARCO Forum discussed the long-term ramifications of the election deadlock on the nation.

Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press Thomas Patterson said that although the hotly-contested, controversial election has induced much disillusionment with American politics, effects will wear off by the next election in 2004.

"I think other conditions will matter more for the election in 2004," Patterson said. "I think the question is: Where will America's mind be in the 2004 campaign?"

Frederick Schauer, academic dean and Stanton professor at Kennedy School of Government, said courts may continue to intercede in presidential elections which are supposed to reflect the will of the people.

"We are in an era in which judges may go outside the technicalities of the law," Schauer said.

Anna Greenberg, assistant professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School, said ill-conceived polls led much of the media to misjudge Bush as clearly the front-runner going into the election.