- Posted by Christopher Estep on December 12, 2007
It was December 12, 2000 that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of George W. Bush and stopped the endless recounting of votes in Florida, allowing the election to be certified and George W. Bush to have enough electoral votes to officially win the election.
Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a United States Supreme Court case heard on December 11, 2000. In a per curiam opinion, by a vote of 7-2, the Court held that the Florida Supreme Court's scheme for recounting ballots was unconstitutional, and by a vote of 5-4, the Court held that no alternative scheme could be established within the time limits established by Florida Legislature. The per curiam opinion was argued on the basis of Equal Protection.[2]
The decision stopped the recount that was occurring in Florida and allowed Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's previous certification of George W. Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral votes to stand. Florida's 25 electoral votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 Electoral College votes, defeating Democrat Al Gore. 270 electoral college votes were needed by either candidate to win.
It was this singular event, this moment in history that established President Bush as the most hated person by the left, even more so than Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, and Jesse Helms. They despised him more than the Pope, Ken Star, Clarence Thomas, Newt Gingrich, Jerry Falwell, Jim Dobson, Charlton Heston, Trent Lott, Margaret Thatcher, Phyllis Schlaffley, Robert Bork, Oliver North, and the entire memberships of the NRA and Right-to-Life combined. They compare him to Hitler while praising dictators from Venezuela and Iran. And all this because they refuse to admit that they lost.
For the past 7 years (including Bush winning a second election in 2004), the liberals have been getting more and more nuts while claiming that "Bush stole the election" or that the SCOTUS "gave the election to Bush" both of which have been proven to be completely and utterly false.
Let's look at some facts of the case:
Fact 1: SCOTUS ruled 7-2 that the Florida Supreme Court's way of recounting ballots was unconstitutional. To give some perspective on this, Roe v. Wade was also a 7-2 decision. The SCOTUS said by a wide majority that the Florida Supreme Court was unconstitutionally recounting the votes in a way that did not give equal protection to both parties.
Fact 2: SCOTUS ruled 5-4 that there wasn't enough time to effect a constitutional means of recounting and the recounts must stop. Again, for perspective, 5-4 is the margin upon which the Miranda case was originally decided, another one of the liberal trademarks that they like to hide behind.
Fact 3: Under the standards applied in almost every state in the country, Bush received more votes in Florida than Gore.
Fact 4: The only way Gore can be counted as having received more votes in Florida is if the standard of "clean holes only" is applied and only Indiana uses that standard.
Fact 5: Overvotes (where 2 candidates are indicated) have always been discarded as votes for no candidate at all.
So the Democrats (even on their website) are still ignoring the facts in an attempt to keep the anger of the kook base of theirs fomenting. They use FUD-based rhetoric to continue the myth that Gore actually got more votes in Florida. Under every legal standard, that can't be the case. Only by rewriting the law, ex post facto, can you claim that Bush received fewer votes.
Liberals will also point laughingly at the Knight-Ridder recount and say that if Bush had accepted the FSC's method of recounting, he also would have received more votes. It is this very point that illustrates both the fallacy of the Supreme Court conspiracy theory as well as demonstrating that the SCOTUS decision was the right one. Remember, only 2 of the 9 justices said they were following the constitution. 7 of 9 said that the FSC was making unconstitutional orders. The only thing the second decision could have done (had it gone the other way) was prolong the decision of what had already occurred.
We should get down on our knees and thank God that the SCOTUS was there to stop what the Democrats really wanted, and that was set up a new challenge when the electoral college would have been forced to not include Florida and thereby throw the election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Remember, 7 of 9 justices said that Florida was violating the constitution! The 5-4 decision only made the inevitable Bush victory come sooner than later.
Look at the 2 justices who dissented though, Breyer and Ginsburg. Think about what they were saying for a moment. They were in effect wishing to rule that Florida could keep ordering recounts however they wanted, even though 2 of their own liberal friends (Stevens and Souter) plainly saw that Florida was abusing their power.
It is because of justices and judges like Breyer and Ginsburg that this election in 2008 is the most important one we've had in decades. With the uncertainty of the Senate, a liberal president would have an easy time putting in more ACLU hacks while the RINO's in the Senate let it happen so they could appear "balanced".
George Walker Bush, the legitimate and duly elected President of the United States, whether the Communists/Democrats like it or not.
Bush v. Gore - encyclopedia article about Bush v. Gore.
