A Critical Guide to Bush V. Gore Scholarship

Abstract

This article evaluates the emerging legal and political science scholarship created in the wake of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, the case that ended the 2000 Florida election controversy between supporters of George W. Bush and Al Gore. It surveys answers that scholars have given to four central questions: (1) Were the Supreme Court's majority or concurring opinions legally sound? (2) Was the Supreme Court's result justified, even if the legal reasoning contained in the opinions was unsound? (3) What effects, if any, will the case and the social science research it has spurred have on the development of voting rights law? (4) What does the Court's resolution of Bush v. Gore tell us about the Supreme Court as an institution?

Keywords: 2000 presidential election, voting technology, Supreme Court, election law