Bush v. Gore: The Court Cases and the Commentary - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815701071 ISBN 13: 9780815701071

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2001

Synopsis

On December 12, 2000, a controversial decision by the Supreme Court of the United States effectively ended the disputed presidential contest between George W. Bush and Albert Gore Jr. with a 5-4 ruling that revealed the court to be as bitterly divided as the electorate. Four days earlier, the Florida Supreme Court had abruptly changed the dynamics of the election by reversing a lower court and ordering hand recounts of "undervotes" statewide. The U.S. Supreme Court quickly stepped in to halt the recounts and agreed to hear Bush v. Gore. After brief oral arguments and a short period of deliberation, the high court reversed the state court decision. The justices in both cases were bitterly divided, and passionate language emerged in both the majority rulings and the dissents. The drama and divisiveness of this extraordinary saga come to life in the rulings, opinions, and dissents from these two cases: U.S. Supreme Court case 00-949 (Bush v. Gore) and Florida Supreme Court case 00-2431 (Gore v. Harris). The first section of this volume gathers the complete text of both rulings, along with selections from oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court case. The second section of the book gathers the most significant opinion pieces from journalists and scholars on both sides of the political fence. Selected and organized by political analysts E.J. Dionne and William Kristol, these articles illuminate the perspectives of both sides about the various twists and turns in the post-election campaign, and the landmark judicial intervention. A companion website will provide links to documents from additional legal proceedings and other related documents and writings. The legal and historical significance of the 2000 election will be studied and debated for years to come. This volume combines the most important source documents with the most intelligent opinion and analysis about the conflict and its controversial resolution.

About this title

About the Author:

E.J. Dionne Jr. is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, cochair of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, and a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. William Kristol is editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard.

From Library Journal:

Washington Post columnist Dionne and Weekly Standard editor Kristol have assembled 12 legal opinions and 62 pieces of journalism on the recent "Five-Week Recount War." The legal documents include texts of four November advisory opinions from Florida officials, several court decisions preceding December's Gore v. Harris in the Florida Supreme Court, and the climactic Bush v. Gore in the U.S. Supreme Court. The journalism is mainly the work of national columnists from such publications as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, and National Review, plus the editors' own Post and Standard pieces. Some legal documents are not printed in full, but the complete texts are available on an accompanying web site. The editors, who differ on recount questions, have been careful to balance opinions in their column selections. They have contributed a brief introduction and a chronology, but otherwise the book is purely documentary. An optional purchase for libraries, who can weigh the local advantage of having this inexpensive compilation from a prestigious imprint against the time staff and patrons would otherwise spend locating these scattered texts in various print and online sources. Robert F. Nardini, Chichester, NH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0815701071
• ISBN 13: 9780815701071
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 359
• Editor: Dionne E. J., Kristol Editor The Weekly Standa William