Category Archives: Bush v. Gore reflections

The Curious Failure to Cite to Rehnquist’s Bush v. Gore Concurrence and the Independent State Legislature Theory in 2004 Salazar Case; The Issue Was Clear to Justice Stevens’ Then-Clerk (and Now-CA Supreme Court Justice) Leondra Kruger

May 25, 2023, 5:01 pmBush v. Gore reflections, legislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

As the independent state legislature theory remains in limbo in Moore v. Harper, I’ve thought back on Chief Justice Rehnquist’s dissent from denial of cert in Colorado General Assembly v. Salazar (2004) (a case that few other than Derek Muller… Continue reading

Why did Justice O’Connor abandon her own Article II argument in Bush v. Gore?

May 4, 2023, 7:59 amBush v. Gore reflections, electoral collegeDerek Muller

Yesterday, I looked at the draft memorandum Justice Sandra Day O’Connor circulated on December 10, 2000, ahead of the December 11 oral argument in Bush v. Gore. Her memorandum focused on Article II. By December 12, however, the per… Continue reading

Justice O’Connor created the framework and the heart of the language for Chief Justice Rehnquist’s concurring opinion in Bush v. Gore

May 3, 2023, 10:09 amBush v. Gore reflections, electoral collegeDerek Muller

Many of the papers of the late Justice John Paul Stevens have been released, including papers from Bush v. Gore. Over at CNN, Joan Biskupic has a four-page memorandum that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor circulated to the justices before oral… Continue reading

“Bush v. Gore docs among new releases from Justice Stevens archives”

May 2, 2023, 4:04 pmBush v. Gore reflectionsJustin Levitt

The AP, NYT, NBC, and CNN each have different snippets (and takeaways) from the archival documents from Justice Stevens’ papers that were made public today.

What Difference Would It Make If the Supreme Court in the Moore v. Harper Case Embraced the Bush v. Gore Concurrence Rather Than a Full-Throated Independent State Legislature Theory?

December 7, 2022, 1:40 pmBush v. Gore reflections, legislation and legislatures, statutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

In my earlier recap of today’s oral argument in Moore v. Harper (transcript here), I suggested that the middle ground position that the three Justices in the middle might embrace would be bad but not awful compared to the… Continue reading

“Private SCOTUS files that could reveal what happened in Bush v. Gore remain locked up”

November 23, 2021, 3:43 pmBush v. Gore reflections, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Joan Biskupic for CNN: Internal Supreme Court documents that could enhance public understanding of the Bush v. Gore election battle and other significant cases of the late 1990s and early 2000s were to be opened last year under a deal… Continue reading

Twenty Years After Bush v. Gore, America Has Learned the Key Wrong Lesson

December 12, 2020, 4:43 pmBush v. Gore reflections, Election MeltdownRick Hasen

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Bush v. Gore. On the case’s 10th anniversary, I remarked that perhaps the anniversary would go more unnoticed on the 20th anniversary than the 10th, as many students I teach now about the case… Continue reading

From the ELB Archives: Six Reflections on Bush v. Gore (10th Anniversary)

December 12, 2020, 4:17 pmBush v. Gore reflectionsRick Hasen

Six Reflections on Bush v. Gore Posted on December 12, 2010 7:20 pm by Rick Hasen Today is the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore, ending the Florida recount and handing the 2000 presidential to George… Continue reading

Ned Foley: “Is Texas v. Pennsylvania an obituary for Bush v. Gore?”

December 12, 2020, 4:12 pmBush v. Gore reflections, Supreme Court, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

The following is a guest post by Ned Foley, on the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore: On the evening before the twentieth anniversary of Bush v. Gore, one of the most infamous Supreme Court… Continue reading

Boies and Olson WaPo oped: “We opposed each other in Bush v. Gore. Now we agree: Biden won.”

November 14, 2020, 2:40 pmBush v. Gore reflectionsRick Hasen

Oped: Twenty years ago, we represented the opposing sides in Bush v. Gore. We still don’t agree about how the Supreme Court ruled, but we completely agree that nothing in that case — or in the Supreme Court’s decision —… Continue reading

“Bush v. Gore Veterans See Big Contrast to Current Legal Fight Over Election”

November 10, 2020, 12:18 pmBush v. Gore reflectionsRick Hasen

WSJ: Lawyers involved in the 2000 Bush v. Gore election fight said the legal battle forming over this year’s presidential election stands in contrast to what took place 20 years ago, when the outcome turned on several hundred votes in… Continue reading