![]() ![]() What is wrong with this, on a rule-of-law account? A great deal, but let me concentrate on two things in particular: And the “intent of the voter” standard was the standard that was established doctrine in the Florida courts, and was applied consistently in this case although in a majority of lawsuits this favored Bush.Īs Kim Scheppele observed about this Catch-22: The reason that the Florida Supreme Court did not mandate a uniform recount standard is because the Supreme Court of the United States had warned it not to. Therefore, each individual county was left to devise its own standards.” More importantly, the court failed to provide any standard more specific than the ‘intent of the voter’ standard to govern this statewide undervote recount. “Accordingly, there was no guarantee that those ballots deemed undervotes had not been previously tabulated. “The Florida Supreme Court provided no uniform, statewide method for identifying and separating the undervotes,” O’Connor wrote, referring to instances when machines had failed to detect a vote for president. She opened by highlighting state legislative authority to set the rules for the appointment of state presidential electors but quickly focused on the flaws, as she perceived them, of the ongoing recounts ordered by the state court. O’Connor laid the groundwork for that result in her December 10 memo to all her colleagues as she condemned a Florida state Supreme Court decision ordering selective recounts of “undervotes” in certain counties. Sandra Day O’Connor took the lead in ensuring her preferred candidate would win after having expressed dismay when the election was called for Gore that she would be prevented from retiring: Scott Applewhite, File)Ī tranche of John Paul Stevens’s personal records have been released, and they remind us what a lawless atrocity Bush v. Now, though, a more conservative court that includes two men who once worked for Kennedy is taking direct aim at major opinions written by the two, now retired, justices.(AP Photo/J. They held pivotal votes on a court closely divided between liberals and conservatives. For years, the Supreme Court moved to the left or right only as far as Justices O’Connor and Kennedy allowed. FILE – Associate Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’ Connor and Anthony Kennedy chat as the entire court has their portrait taken on Nov.
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