Recount wasn't as wildly inaccurate as Stone's JFK, but all movies fail at careful historical analysis. I accept the supremacy of the court as the final arbiter, but the Supreme Court does not always make the correct or a consistent decision.
Carl, Gore did not need a court decision to start a recount. Bush went to court first, but court is the inevitable path for something like this. First, each state shall determine its electors that is correct as you reference in the constitution. The Florida legislature passed the election laws mandating a recount and the right of a candidate to request a manual recount. The Florida legislature did not specify a standard, the Florida legislature left the method of recount ambiguous. Surely if a candidate has a right to request a manual recount then adequate time and provisions for conducting such a recount must also be available. Therefore, it would naturally follow that the Florida State Supreme Court would exercise its role to interpret the Florida Legislature's conflicting provisions. The US Supreme Court sustained this role, but determined a uniform standard should have been provided by the Florida Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court ended any remedy by calling the game on account of darkness or in this case on account of December 12th. USA Today Recount