In a 5–4 per curiam decision, the Court ruled, strictly on equal protection grounds, that the recount be stopped. In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that "counting every legally cast vote cannot constitute irreparable harm." Oral arguments were scheduled for December 11. On December 9, the five conservative justices on the Court granted the stay, with Scalia citing "irreparable harm" that could befall Bush, as the recounts would cast "a needless and unjustified cloud" over Bush's legitimacy. Justice Antonin Scalia, convinced that all the manual recounts being performed in Florida's counties were illegitimate, urged his colleagues to grant the stay immediately. Supreme Court to stay the decision and halt the recount. The Bush campaign immediately asked the U.S. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court had ordered a statewide recount of all undervotes, over 61,000 ballots that the vote tabulation machines had missed. 98 (2000), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Ginsburg, joined by Stevens Souter, Breyer (Part I)īreyer, joined by Stevens, Ginsburg (except Part I–A–1) Souter (Part I) Souter, joined by Breyer Stevens, Ginsburg (all but Part III) Florida Supreme Court reversed and remanded.Ĭhief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. In the circumstances of this case, any manual recount of votes seeking to meet the December 12 "safe harbor" deadline would be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. matter certified to Florida Supreme Court, Fla.
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