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How did Justice David Souter criticize the Supreme Court's stay of the Florida recount?

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U.S. presidential election of 2000 — Bush v. Gore A Florida judge examining a challenged vote at an operations center in Plantation, Florida, during a recount of the state's U.S. presidential election ballots, 2000.

In his dissent regarding the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, Justice David Souter criticized the Court's initial stay of the Florida Supreme Court’s recount order as unnecessary. He argued that had the Court allowed the state to follow the course indicated by its own Supreme Court, it was entirely possible that the matter would have been resolved without requiring federal intervention. Additionally, Souter defended the Florida court's interpretation of what constituted "appropriate" relief under state election law.1