lawyer who represented bush in 2000 election supreme court hearing

by Dallin Bernhard 4 min read

Who appointed Kagan to the Supreme Court?

When Democrat Barack Obama succeeded Bush in 2009, he named Kagan US solicitor general and then in 2010 appointed her to the Supreme Court. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Kagan declined to give her view of Bush v. Gore.

When was Kagan nominated to the DC Circuit?

She was nominated to the federal appeals court for the DC Circuit by Clinton in 1999, after serving his administration in senior domestic-policy positions. Later that year, Kagan become a visiting professor at the Harvard Law School.

What case did Barrett work on?

Barrett wrote on the questionnaire she submitted to the Senate for her Supreme Court confirmation review, "One significant case on which I provided research and briefing assistance was Bush v. Gore." She said the law firm where she was working at the time represented Bush and that she had gone down to Florida "for about a week at the outset of the litigation" when the dispute was in the Florida courts. She said she had not continued on the case after she returned to Washington.

When was Alito appointed to the Supreme Court?

He had been appointed in 1990 to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals by President George H.W. Bush. At the time of Bush v. Gore, Alito was a decade into the job, writing opinions in his Newark, New Jersey, chambers and widely regarded as a possibility for the younger Bush's "short list" of Supreme Court candidates.

Why did Roberts fly to Florida?

Roberts flew to Florida in November 2000 to assist Bush's legal team. He helped prepare the lawyer who presented Bush's case to the Florida state Supreme Court and offered advice throughout.

What was the Supreme Court decision in 2000?

98 (2000), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court had ordered a statewide recount of all undervotes, over 61,000 ballots that ...

Why did Bush argue that recounts in Florida violated the Equal Protection Clause?

Bush argued that recounts in Florida violated the Equal Protection Clause because Florida did not have a statewide vote recount standard. Each county was on its own to determine whether a given ballot was an acceptable one. Two voters could have marked their ballots in an identical manner, but the ballot in one county would be counted while the ballot in a different county would be rejected, because of the conflicting manual recount standards.

How many articles were written about Bush v Gore?

Bush v. Gore prompted many strong reactions from scholars, pundits and others regarding the Court's decision, with a majority of publications in law reviews being critical. An analysis in The Georgetown Law Journal found that 78 scholarly articles were published about the case between 2001 and 2004, with 35 criticizing the decision and 11 defending it.

When did the Florida recount stop?

On that date the Florida Supreme Court, by a 4–3 vote, ordered a statewide manual recount of undervotes. On December 9, ruling in response to an emergency request by Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the recount.

What was the Equal Protection Clause violation?

Seven justices agreed that there was an Equal Protection Clause violation in using differing standards of determining a valid vote in different counties, causing an "unequal evaluation of ballots in various respects". The per curiam opinion (representing the views of Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas) specifically cited that:#N#Palm Beach County changed standards for counting dimpled chads several times during the counting process;#N#Broward County used less restrictive standards than Palm Beach County;#N#Miami-Dade County’s recount of rejected ballots did not include all precincts;#N#The Florida Supreme Court did not specify who would recount the ballots.

What was the Chief Justice's opinion in the Florida Supreme Court case?

Chief Justice Rehnquist's concurring opinion, joined by Justices Scalia and Thomas, began by emphasizing that this was an unusual case in which the Constitution requires federal courts to assess whether a state supreme court has properly interpreted the will of the state legislature. Usually, federal courts do not make that type of assessment, and indeed the per curiam opinion in this case did not do so. After addressing this aspect of the case, Rehnquist examined and agreed with arguments that had been made by the dissenting justices of the Florida Supreme Court.

What amendment is equal protection?

The Supreme Court, in a per curiam opinion, ruled that the Florida Supreme Court's decision, calling for a statewide recount, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . This ruling was by a 7–2 vote, though per curiam opinions are usually issued only for unanimous votes.

Who won the 2000 presidential election?

Bush won the 2000 presidential Election against Vice President Al Gore after a controversial vote recount in Florida. With the decision, Bush became the first president since Benjamin Harrison, in 1888, to lose the popular vote, but win the general election.

How many votes did Florida get in 2000?

As Florida's electoral votes became too close to call, controversy ensued over hanging chads, dimpled chads and butterfly bullets. Five hundred thirty-seven votes. That's all that separated Democrat Al Gore and his Republican challenger George W. Bush when, on November 26, 2000, three weeks after Election Day, the state ...

Who was the governor of Florida at the time?

Gore was referring to the fact that Florida’s governor at the time was Jeb Bush , Bush’s younger brother. Further fueling the fire: Katherine Harris, Florida’s secretary of state, charged with overseeing an impartial election, was a Republican who served as co-chair of Florida’s Bush for President election committee.

Background

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In the United States, each state conducts its own popular vote election for president and vice president. The voters are actually voting for a slate of electors, each of whom pledges to vote for a particular candidate for each office, in the Electoral College. Article II, § 1, cl. 2 of the U.S. Constitution provides that each st…
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Stay of The Florida Recount

  • By December 8, 2000, there had been multiple court decisions regarding the presidential election in Florida. On that date the Florida Supreme Court, by a 4–3 vote, ordered a statewide manual recount of undervotes. On December 9, ruling in response to an emergency request by Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the recount. The Court also decided to treat Bush's application for rel…
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Rapid Developments

  • The oral argument in Bush v. Gore occurred on December 11. Theodore Olson, a Washington, D.C., lawyer, delivered Bush's oral argument. New York lawyer David Boiesargued for Gore. During the brief period when the U.S. Supreme Court was deliberating on Bush v. Gore, the Florida Supreme Court provided clarifications of its November 21 decision in Palm Beach County Canvassing Boa…
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Relevant Law

  • The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is the U.S. Constitutional provision on which the decision in Bush v. Gorewas based. Article II, § 1, cl. 2 of the Constitution specifies the number of electors per state, and, most relevant to this case,specifies the manner in which those electors are selected, stipulating that: This clause arguably gives power to only one branch of Fl…
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Issues Considered by The Court

  • The Court had to resolve two different questions to fully resolve the case: 1. Were the recounts, as they were being conducted, constitutional? 2. If the recounts were unconstitutional, what is the remedy? Three days earlier, the five-Justice majority had ordered the recount stopped,and the Court had to decide whether to restart it.
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Decision

  • In brief, the breakdown of the decision was: 1. Seven justices agreed that there was an Equal Protection Clause violation in using differing standards of determining a valid vote in different counties, causing an "unequal evaluation of ballots in various respects". The per curiam opinion (representing the views of Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas) specific…
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Scholarly Analyses

  • Bush v. Gore prompted many strong reactions from scholars, pundits and others regarding the Court's decision, with a majority of publications in law reviews being critical. An analysis in The Georgetown Law Journalfound that 78 scholarly articles were published about the case between 2001 and 2004, with 35 criticizing the decision and 11 defending it.
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Public Reaction

  • Editorials in the country's leading newspapers were overwhelmingly critical of the decision. A review by The Georgetown Law Journal found that the nation's top newspapers, by circulation, had published 18 editorials criticizing the decision, compared with just 6 praising it. They similarly published 26 op-eds criticizing the decision, compared to just 8 defending the decision. Polls sh…
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See Also

External Links

  1. Works related to Bush v. Goreat Wikisource
  2. Text of Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000) is available from:CornellGoogle ScholarJustiaLibrary of CongressOyez (oral argument audio)
  3. After Bush v. Gore by Retro Report
  4. Tony Sutin: Presidential Election Law
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