Supreme Court Justice (nominated by Pres. Bush Sr. 1990)
Bush v. Gore: recount all votes in Florida
The Court reversed the Florida Supreme Court decision ordering manual recount of presidential election ballots. A majority agreed that the recount violated the Constitution's equal protection clause, since counting standards varied among counties. The
decision effectively ended the presidential election, handing a victory to George W. Bush.
OnTheIssues summary:
Holding (Rehnquist, Kennedy, O'Connor, Scalia, Thomas): "Any manual recount of votes seeking to meet the deadline would be
unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment." [Recount cannot be done fairly by the deadline].
Concurrence (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas): "The state legislature has provided mechanisms for contesting election results." [no federal intervention needed].
Dissent (Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, Souter): "Counting every legally cast vote cannot constitute irreparable harm. Preventing the recount from being completed will inevitably cast a cloud on the legitimacy of the election." [Count every vote].
