Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has indicated second thoughts about her vote in the infamous Bush V Gore case of December 2000, when the Court decided to intervene in the 2000 Presidential Election controversy between Al Gore and George W. Bush in Florida.
The Supreme Court decided that the vote recount ordered by the Florida State Supreme Court should be halted, giving the victory to Bush, and leading to his election by the miniscule margin of 537 votes, and making him the Electoral College winner by 271-266.
Now, O’Connor has expressed regret that the Court did something it had no precedent to do, decide the election results in a closely competitive contest by far less than one percent of the vote. Where does it state in the Constitution that the Supreme Court should so intervene? The state Supreme Court should have been the final determinant, and possibly, Bush would have won anyway, but at least the Supreme Court would not have done what was a revolutionary precedent!
It could be that O’Connor feels guilt because she is well aware of the disasters that occurred under George W. Bush, and the beginning of the attempt to change his historical image, through the opening of his Presidential Library this week in Dallas, Texas.
We will never know whether Al Gore would have been a better President, but it is hard to believe that he would have been worse than Bush turned out to be!
I really find this phrase of your amusing , ” Where does it state in the Constitution that the Supreme Court should so intervene?”… Never mind the fact that whenever a federal question arises, such as when there is a violation of a constitutional right or interpretation of a constitutional art, the SCOTUS has jurisdiction, but I would ask “Where does it state in the Constitution that there exist a constitutional right to abortion” for example? Or “where are the Miranda rights written in the Constitution?” or “where is the constitutional right to marriage written in the Constitution?” or “the right to privacy”?. It’s unbelievable to hear a progressive ask and complain about “where is it written in the Constitution”.
Juan, when it comes to basic rights, the best cases of the Court involve that. But to intervene in the election in 2000 and decide the result, particularly when the majority claimed to believe in limited and strict interpretations on other issues, is a true hypocrisy, and you know that to be the truth. Deciding who is President is revolutionary; deciding women’s rights, privacy rights, and defendant rights is NOT! It is the glory of our history!
Ron: Justice Brennan once said “With five votes you can do anything.” The SCOTUS held that it had legal authority to intervene because it was a federal elections. The Constitution states unequivocally that the STATE LEGISLATURES- not the State’s Supreme Court- have jurisdiction for creating the process by which the states’ electors are to be chosen. Thus the Florida Supreme Court violated the Federal Constitution and it was the duty of the SCOTUS to override the gone wild activist Florida Supreme Court’s decision authorizing the initial recount. That was ruled 5-4.
But more importantly the SCOTUS in a 7-2 vote, ruled that the Florida statewide manual recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court violated Floridians constitutional rights under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
So, the SCOTUS did not decide who was to be the President, it just ruled what the law was, PERIOD. Furthermore the SCOTUS “remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”,thus technically not dismissing the case and even Gore’s attorney saw this a way to continue the fight, but Gore finally desisted on the path he never should have taken. It was Gore who judicialized the election, not Bush.
There are well known experts who would dispute your conclusions that the Court did what was proper, but we will never settle this, except the reality that we got stuck with W and Dick Cheney, a nightmare in so many ways, but of course, you will not agree!
Ron: I agree that W was a nightmare in some ways, but probably not in the same ways you do. He was a big government Republican, expanded the bureaucracy and spent too much. Nevertheless I think Gore would have been worse. I mean he distanced himself so far from Clinton that he blew it for the Democrats.
If one is looking seriously for the real problem in the 2000 election, perhaps the constitutional culprit is the Electoral College itself? Your thoughts Professor Feinman?
Yes, the Electoral College is the villain, but the only way to change that is a constitutional amendment, although there is a movement to have enough states decide to count their electoral votes in a different fashion, which might be acceptable, but it is up in the air right now.
Of course, the Electoral College has only “failed” four times—1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000, so it has worked about 92 percent of the time, which is quite good. And we survived John Quincy Adams, Rutherford Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and even George W. Bush, even if they did NOT win the popular vote of the nation!
Hey Maggie,
I’m going to be back home from May 23 to June 3 for my youngest daughter’s graduation from North Dorchester.
I take it you are in the city with the hospital and SSU?
Enginner,
Yes you are correct.. I retired from SU. Worked at the hosp for a few years then at the hospital in Worcester Cnty.
Live about 11 miles from SU out in the forest. LOL!….,am in Salis all the time.
North Dorchester….wow we are close!
My kid’s HS plays them in football as well as the marching band competes against ND. Both kids were in band. The Poco _ _ k _ Christmas parade was always the big competition of the year. This is mean….: ) We always won first place! In fact we only got one 2nd place in about 20 yrs.
That should tell you where I live… well 6 miles from that town and 11 from SU.
It ‘s funny because now my son lives in the same city the Professor does… In fact, lol down the street!
Let’s me think, the mentally unstable Gore who sold out his constantly preached values to the highest bidder or a man of his word, no contest.
Dumbya or Gore. Hmmm. Very easy. Gore for me.