On this day in ...... 2000 (10 years ago today), 5 weeks after national balloting, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Bush v. Gore, holding Florida's vote recount a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and thus making way for the January inauguration of former Texas Governor George W. Bush as the country's 43d President. (photo credit) Division on the Court was evident in these concluding lines of the dissent of Justice John Paul Stevens:
Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law.
(Prior December 12 posts are here, here, and here.)
