Bush v Gore

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Bush v. Gore

Bush v. Gore was a controversial case that was heard on December 11, 2000. This case decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election between Vice President Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush.

The election took place on Nov 7, 2000. Under our electoral college system each state votes for our new president separately, a winner is then declared in each state and is awarded “electoral votes” that is equal to the states number of representatives in the House and Senate. Gore led Bush 266-246 and 270 votes are required for victory. Florida with 25 electoral votes did not have an official winner because the result was inside of the margin of error for machine counting.

Gore knew the only way to figure this out was to have a manual recount of several counties ballots. As Palm Beach County was recounting its ballots Florida Secretary Harris, a Republican and co-chair of the Florida Bush campaign, officially certified the election for Bush. In reaction to this decision Gore and Palm Beach filed suit against Bush and Harris in Florida Supreme court demanding that the recount should go on. On November 22, Bush appealed to the United States Supreme Court against Palm Beach County Canvassing Board stating the decision was in violation of a federal statute requiring electors to be finished at a given point before the Electoral College met.

After many more suits were filed oral arguments in Bush v. Gore were brought before the US Supreme Court on December 11, 2000 by lawyers representing both sides. Due to the nature of the case the court gave its opinion in only 16 hours after hearing the arguments.

Bush’s representation questioned that, Does recounts in Florida violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution? Because all the votes were being counted unevenly, with standards varying from county to county, where recounts in counties where he could have majority were not being conducted. Bush Argued the decision went against the Constitution stating “nor shall any State…. Deny to any person within the equal protection of the laws.”

Gore’s representation responded that the Florida Supreme court hade done everything it could to establish equal treatment of both parties, and that requiring all ballots to be treated in the same manner would require a new federal standard for counting votes. Gore also claimed that ending recounts was not a good way to settle this extraordinary dispute.

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