It's been ten long years since Bush v. Gore. The Supreme Court, in what was already an increasingly blatant series of partisan cases, installed the worst president in modern history. The justices tend to cite landmark cases in their later "work," but they have never referred back to BvG. Alito tells people to "get over it," a playground retort that tells you: a) he won't discuss it because he can't defend it; b) he won't apologize for it because he has no shame; c) he won't admit it was partisan because he's still handing down shoddy, biased decisions; and d) he doesn't care what anyone thinks because he's publicly involved in political affairs. He is a hack, not a judge.
If you don't remember the specifics, here's a quick review. The presidential election of 2000 apparently ended in a dead heat. Bush had 246 electoral votes, Gore 266, with only Florida's votes not included. Those 25 votes would decide the election, but the difference in the state's totals was less than one-half percent between the two candidates. Under state law the election officials had to perform a recount and report within seven days. That was when the circus began.
Lawyers for both sides flooded into the Sunshine State. Stories about voter intimidation, purging of eligible voters from rolls, and other irregularities began to surface. Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who had co-chaired Bush's Florida campaign, tried to invalidate the recount by certifying each county's totals as originally reported. In other words, she wanted to use her position to ignore the actual totals and declare the election over because her candidate had ostensibly won.
A Bush family crony and unindicted co-conspirator, James Baker oversaw a blizzard of legal diversions. Recounts in various counties started, stopped, and started again, all under the watchful eyes of lawyers. Reporters breathlessly told us about different kinds of chads. The actual votes, the will of the people, got pushed further and further into the background. The Florida Supreme Court displayed an unhealthy interest in facts and evidence, going so far as to order a complete and final recount to resolve the election properly. The Bush legal team went over their heads. Reagan and Bush Sr. had appointed the majority on the Supreme Court, so that was where the case needed to go. Bush had to win; the legal justification was almost an afterthought. Best of all, with SCOTUS there could be no appeal. More than a month later, the federal justices stopped the recount, effectively appointing Bush the new commander in chief.
There were plenty of issues to provoke outrage. For me there are three that still resonate a decade later.
One, the whole process became politicized too quickly. The country can't have confidence in an election if the votes are pushed aside in favor of legal hair-splitting, partisan maneuvering, and endless debates over established procedures. The higher the stakes, the more important it is to follow the law. If a county has a recount procedure in place, follow it to its conclusion, flawed though it may be. Fix the flaws later. Bush may have actually won, but we'll never know.
Two, a democracy (even a representative democracy) lives or dies on the integrity of its elections. The only point in the political process where you have any real power is in an election. If someone interferes with how your vote is recorded, he is taking away your power, he is substituting his decision for yours, he is subverting the democratic process and committing treason. Americans don't seem to understand how important their votes are. The general outrage over Florida soon dissipated, with few reforms ever put in place. The biggest "reform" was a switch to electronic devices, which I've covered in another entry. The time for reform is now, before the next election.
Three, the Supremes are supposed to be impartial. They're human beings, but judges are allegedly chosen for their impartiality. They are supposed to have the training and experience to put their personal prejudices aside. That's their job, that's their duty. With Bush v. Gore they abandoned their duty. They are indirectly responsible for the ensuing disasters, from two pointless wars to Katrina to the current depression. They have become as corrupt as the rest of the federal government.