Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board

Last updated
Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board
Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg
Argued December 1, 2000
Decided December 4, 2000
Full case nameBush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board et al.
Docket no. 00-836
Citations531 U.S. 70 ( more )
121 S. Ct. 471; 148 L. Ed. 2d 366; 2000 U.S. LEXIS 8087; 69 U.S.L.W. 4020; 2000 Cal. Daily Op. Service 9599; 14 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 19
Case history
PriorMotion denied, Fla. Cir. Ct., November 17, 2000; matter certified to Florida Supreme Court, Fla. Ct. App.; sub nom. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1220 (Fla. 2000); cert. granted, 531 U.S. 1004 (2000)
Holding
Decision vacated and case remanded for clarification
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
John P. Stevens  · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia  · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter  · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg  · Stephen Breyer
Case opinion
Per curiam

Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, 531 U.S. 70 (2000), was a United States Supreme Court decision involving Florida voters during the 2000 presidential election. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court requested clarification from the Florida Supreme Court regarding the decision it had made in Palm Beach County Canvassing Board v. Harris (Harris I) . Shortly after the Florida Supreme Court provided those clarifications on December 11, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved the election in favor of George W. Bush over Al Gore in the case of Bush v. Gore .

Contents

Background

The 2000 presidential election was contingent upon who won the popular vote in Florida. Republican George W. Bush was narrowly ahead in the tally. Democrat Al Gore challenged the decision of Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State, to certify Bush as the winner on November 14 (a 7-day deadline set by Florida statute § 102.111). Gore asserted that Harris had disregarded manual recount results in four Florida counties. The Florida Supreme Court, in deciding between two conflicting provisions of Florida statute (§ 102.111 and § 102.112), enjoined Harris from certifying the election results and invoked its equitable powers to set a November 26 deadline for a return of ballot counts, thereby extending the deadline by 12 days. (The court allowed Harris the option of setting the deadline as November 27, which was a Monday. Harris did not.) The court directed Harris to accept manual recounts submitted prior to the new deadline. Bush then appealed the Florida Supreme Court decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Issues before U.S. Supreme Court

The Court was faced with two questions. First, did post-election court decisions in Florida violate the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution or 3 U.S.C.   § 5? Second, did the Florida Supreme Court violate Article II of the United States Constitution, which confers plenary power in the appointment of Electors on state legislatures, when the Florida Supreme Court allegedly changed the manner in which Florida's electoral votes were chosen?

Holding

The Court unanimously held that there was "considerable uncertainty" as to the reasons for the Florida Supreme Court's decision. According to Vanity Fair, "The unanimity was, in fact, a charade; four of the justices had no beef at all with the Florida Supreme Court, while at least four others were determined to overturn it." [1] Therefore, the Court declined to review the questions presented, instead vacating the Florida Supreme Court decision and remanding the case for clarification of two questions. First, to what extent did the Florida Supreme Court see the Florida Constitution as circumscribing the legislature's authority under Article II of the federal Constitution (i.e., whether it had based its ruling on the state constitution, which the Bush team had said was improper, or had acted under state statute, which was arguably permissible.)? [1] Second, how much consideration did the Florida Supreme Court give to a relevant federal statute, namely 3 U.S.C. § 5?

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 United States presidential election</span> 54th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican candidate George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush, won the election, defeating incumbent Vice President Al Gore. It was the fourth of five American presidential elections, and the first since 1888, in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote, and is considered one of the closest U.S. presidential elections, with long-standing controversy about the result. Gore conceded the election on December 13.

Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 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. Bush and Al Gore. 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. The Bush campaign immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the decision and halt the recount. 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. 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. In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that "counting every legally cast vote cannot constitute irreparable harm." Oral arguments were scheduled for December 11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Harris</span> American politician (born 1957)

Katherine Harris is a former American politician. A Republican, Harris served in the Florida Senate from 1994 to 1998, as Secretary of State of Florida from 1999 to 2002, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida's 13th congressional district from 2003 to 2007. Harris lost her 2006 campaign for a United States Senate seat from Florida, after a significant loss of party support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida</span> Election recount due to close margins

The 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida was a period of vote recounting in Florida that occurred during the weeks after Election Day in the 2000 United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The Florida vote was ultimately settled in Bush's favor by a margin of 537 votes when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore, stopped a recount that had been initiated upon a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court. Bush's win in Florida gave him a majority of votes in the Electoral College and victory in the presidential election.

Vote pairing, in the UK and Australia, or pairing, is the mechanism by which two members of parliament of opposing parties agree, with the consent of their party whips, to abstain from voting if the other one is unable to vote. Thus they maintain the balance of votes if one or the other is unable to attend. A three-line whip would usually be excepted from this agreement. For MPs who are not paired a bisque, a rota system allowing absence is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign</span> Presidential campaign

The 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, was formally launched on June 14, 1999 as Governor Bush, the eldest son of former President George H. W. Bush, announced his intention to seek the Republican Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 2000 presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign</span> United States presidential campaign

The 2000 presidential campaign of Al Gore, the 45th vice president of the United States under President Bill Clinton, began when he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Carthage, Tennessee, on June 16, 1999. Gore became the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election on August 17, 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Butterworth</span> American attorney and politician

Robert A. Butterworth Jr. is an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Florida</span> Highest court in the U.S. state of Florida

Palm Beach County Canvassing Board v. Harris(Harris I) was a lawsuit pertaining to the 2000 United States presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Waters</span> American lawyer

Craig Waters was the public information officer and communications director for the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee from June 1, 1996, through February 28, 2022. He is known for his work in open government and First Amendment rights, both as a lawyer and as a governmental official. He also is known as the public spokesman for the Court during the 2000 presidential election controversy, when he frequently appeared on worldwide newscasts announcing rulings in lawsuits over Florida's decisive vote in the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooks Brothers riot</span> 2000 US political demonstration

The Brooks Brothers riot was a demonstration led by Republican staffers at a meeting of election canvassers in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on November 22, 2000, during a recount of votes made during the 2000 United States presidential election, with the goal of shutting down the recount. After demonstrations and acts of violence, local officials shut down the recount early. This had the effect of ensuring that the December 12 "safe harbor" deadline set by Title 3 of the United States Code could not be met, guaranteeing that George W. Bush would win the 2000 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rehnquist Court</span> Period of the US Supreme Court from 1986 to 2005

The Rehnquist Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which William Rehnquist served as Chief Justice. Rehnquist succeeded Warren Burger as Chief Justice after the latter's retirement, and Rehnquist held this position until his death in 2005, at which point John Roberts was nominated and confirmed as Rehnquist's replacement. The Rehnquist Court is generally considered to be more conservative than the preceding Burger Court, but not as conservative as the succeeding Roberts Court. According to Jeffrey Rosen, Rehnquist combined an amiable nature with great organizational skill, and he "led a Court that put the brakes on some of the excesses of the Earl Warren era while keeping pace with the sentiments of a majority of the country."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 United States presidential election in Florida</span> Election in Florida

The 2000 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 7, 2000, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Florida, a swing state, had a major recount dispute that took center stage in the election. The outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election was not known for more than a month after balloting because of the extended process of counting and recounting Florida's presidential ballots. State results tallied on election night gave 246 electoral votes to Republican nominee Texas Governor George W. Bush and 255 to Democratic nominee Vice President Al Gore, with New Mexico (5), Oregon (7), and Florida (25) too close to call that evening. Gore won New Mexico and Oregon over the following few days; but the result in Florida was to be decisive, regardless of how those two states had voted.

<i>Recount</i> (film) 2008 television film directed by Jay Roach

Recount is a 2008 political drama television film about Florida's vote recount during the 2000 United States presidential election. Written by Danny Strong and directed by Jay Roach, the television film stars Kevin Spacey, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley Jr., Laura Dern, John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bruce McGill, and Tom Wilkinson. It premiered on HBO on May 25, 2008. The television film was nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, winning three for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special, and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie. It was also nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and winning Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Miller v. Treadwell, also known as Miller v. Campbell, is a series of three lawsuits filed by U.S. Senate candidate, Joe Miller, in both federal and Alaska state courts, that dispute vote-counting methods and other procedures conducted by the Alaska Division of Elections relating to the November 2, 2010 general election.

The Florida State Courts System is the unified state court system of Florida.

McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1 (1892), was a United States Supreme Court case decided on October 17, 1892. The case concerned a law passed in Michigan which divided the state into separate congressional districts and awarded one of the state's electoral votes to the winner of each district. The suit was filed by several of these electors chosen in the 1892 election, including William McPherson, against Robert R. Blacker, the Secretary of State of Michigan. It was the first Supreme Court case to consider whether certain methods of states' appointments of their electors were constitutional. The Court, in a majority opinion authored by Chief Justice Melville Fuller, upheld Michigan's law, and more generally gave state legislatures plenary power over how they appointed their electors. The Court held that Article Two of the United States Constitution also constrains the ability of each state to limit the ability of its state legislators to decide how to appoint their electors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral Count Act</span> United States legislation for congressional action in certifying election results

The Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA) (Pub. L. 49–90, 24 Stat. 373, later codified at Title 3, Chapter 1) is a United States federal law adding to procedures set out in the Constitution of the United States for the counting of electoral votes following a presidential election. The Act was enacted by Congress in 1887, ten years after the disputed 1876 presidential election, in which several states submitted competing slates of electors and a divided Congress was unable to resolve the deadlock for weeks. Close elections in 1880 and 1884 followed, and again raised the possibility that with no formally established counting procedure in place, partisans in Congress might use the counting process to force a desired result.

Moore v. Harper, 600 U.S. ___ (2023), is a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States related to independent state legislature theory (ISL), a doctrine that asserts state legislatures have sole authority to establish federal election laws without review by state courts or governors. The case arose from the redistricting of North Carolina's districts by its legislature after the 2020 United States census, which the state courts found to be too artificial and partisan, and an extreme case of gerrymandering in favor of the Republican Party.

References

  1. 1 2 Margolick, David (October 2004). "The Path to Florida". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast.