Election Decision And George W Bush example essay topic
The Florida Supreme Court stepped in, as it is their right to do so, and said no more time. The Gore campaign was unable to overturn the election decision and George W. Bush won the election and became President of the Untied States of America. On November 18, 2000, eleven days after the election, the first recount came to an end. The recount proved George W. Bush to have won the Florida election by 930 votes out of over 5 million votes. Statistically that made the Florida election a tie and crushed Florida's secretary of the state, Katherine Harris', attempt to crown Bush the winner and end the 2000 Presidential Election. The Gore campaign had reason to believe that this was not a fair recount and wanted another heavily monitored recount.
The Supreme Court granted the Gore campaign exactly what they wanted. They had thousands and thousands votes recounted. After this recount it still proved George W. Bush to be the new President of the United States of America. Gore was now even bitterer and days before the grace period was up Gore wanted another recount. Katherine Harris and the Florida Supreme Court used their powers to deny this recount and gave the victory to George W. Bush. One of the reasons why this was the best decision to make is the fact that Gore's campaign was trying to get the Supreme Court to make a new law.
The role of the Supreme Court in government is to interpret the U.S. Constitution and make a decision based on their interpretation. The Gore campaign basically wanted the Supreme Court to misuse their powers and make a new law so he could have more time. This would not only be a misuse of powers, but also it would be breaking laws of the Constitution. Gore had received two recounts and still could not prove that he was the victor. All the two recounts did was give more proof that George W. Bush was in fact the winner of the election. By no means should Gore's campaign have the right to make the Supreme Court break their role in government and make new laws.
The second reason why this was the right and just decision is based on the equal protection clause. Had the Supreme Court granted Gore another recount they would have broke the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. This clause basically says that no citizen should be denied equal protection of laws. By breaking the grace period law the Supreme Court would have taken away George W. Bush's equal protection under that law. If Gore's campaign could not prove that he had in fact won the election by the time that this grace period was over than he is out of luck. The equal protection law does not just protect one side both sides in a case.
The grace period was up therefore Bush is the victor. The decision by Florida's officials was the most just decision that could have been made. Gore had his time to prove the outcome to be false and he could not. All he did through his recounts was prove that Bush had indeed won. Had Gore been granted more time the Supreme Court would have been abusing their powers and breaking laws. The Supreme Court's role is to interpret the constitution not to make new laws for it.
They also would have been breaking the equal protection clause of the constitution by not giving Bush the equal protection. The Supreme Court did not cut Gore short by any means. Gore had his chance and his time ran out. Bush won the election fair and square and became the new President of the United States.