Bush v. Gore; Fact v. Lore (C9-4)

Okay, so yes I am a millenial which means that I was a toddler during the 2000 court case; Bush v. Gore, so I didn't follow the event. (Lazytown was my favorite show there for awhile so it's suffice to say I was distracted)

In any case, it's about time I learned about Bush v. Gore, reevaluating the position of the Supreme Court in the matter. 

For the sixth time in American history, the president elect won the electoral college but lost the popular vote. This is, of course, Donald J Trump. While Trump is a trendsetter, President Bush was his trendy predecessor in this matter. 

George W. Bush ran as the conservative republican nominee in 2000 and secured the nomination by being more traditionalist. 

Al Gore, then incumbent Vice President, ran as the liberal democratic nominee and had no trouble landing the nomination. (Incumbency rulez) 

The election process ensued and it came down to very contrary projections of who won the election. This was because the numbers were so tight for who voted for who. It then showed that Bush won but Gore received the popular vote. 

Gore, not ready to give up, requested a recount in Florida and specific counties in Florida. 

This is where the complications arose. Florida law says that a recount must be completed within 7 days post election. However, because of hanging jeffs, this wasn't always easy. The counties declared that they wouldn't be able to meet the deadline for the recount. 

The Florida Secretary of State then persisted a half assed recounting event that was announced on November 18th. This announcement concluded that Bush is the next president of the United States.

But NOT.

The Florida Supreme Court decided that it would be better to go through the process legitimately and extend the recount deadline. The U.S Supreme Court decided they would deny that extension. The Florida Supreme Court denied the denial and went right along with it. The U.S Supreme Court delayed the denial of the denied recount. The final decision was that a recount would be unconstitutional because of different voting methods from county to county (violating the equal protections act). The Florida Supreme Court reluctantly dismissed the case.

Bush wins.

But this decision has a lot of people asking the US Supreme Court "wait who asked you?" 

Which is an excellent question.

Personally, I believe the Supreme Court stepped into a political action and was operating outside a judicial jurisdiction. All of this, in addition to belittling states rights and just being all around inefficient. 

The US Supreme Court had a qualifier at the end of this decision that said that this was not a precedent and was a one time thing. Which sounds vaguely like the morning after political bar hopping. 

Lastly, I disagree with the qualifier because the US Supreme Court is beyond 'one time things' and that they only deal in precedents and deciding the constitutionality of an occasion. 

 

https://youtu.be/SF_2FAJzJ94