The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial presidential election,held on Tuesday,November 7,2000. Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush,the eldest son of George H. W. Bush,narrowly defeated incumbent Democratic Vice President Al Gore. It was the fourth of five U.S. 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.
Sandra Day O'Connor was an American attorney,politician,and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. She was a moderate conservative. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan,she was considered a swing vote for the Rehnquist Court and the first four months of the Roberts Court. Before O'Connor's tenure on the Court,she was an Arizona state judge and earlier an elected legislator in Arizona,serving as the first female majority leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. Upon her nomination to the Court,O'Connor was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate.
Bush v. Gore,531 U.S. 98 (2000),was a landmark 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.
David Hackett Souter is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat that had been vacated by William J. Brennan Jr.,Souter sat on both the Rehnquist and the Roberts courts.
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.
William David Delahunt was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party,he served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Massachusetts's 10th congressional district from 1997 to 2011. Delahunt did not seek re-election in 2010,and left Congress in January 2011. He was succeeded by Norfolk County District Attorney Bill Keating.
The 2000 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention for the Democratic Party. The convention nominated Vice President Al Gore for president and Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut for vice president. The convention was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles,California from August 14 to August 17,2000. Gore accepted the presidential nomination on August 17,the final night of the convention.
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.
John Foster Furcolo was an American lawyer,writer,and Democratic Party politician from Massachusetts. He was the state's 60th governor,and also represented the state as a member of the United States House of Representatives. He was the first Italian-American governor of the state,and an active promoter of community colleges.
The University of Connecticut School of Law is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford,Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. In 2020 it enrolled 488 JD students.
Paul Grattan Kirk Jr. is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 2009 to 2010,having been appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Ted Kennedy. From 1985 to 1989,he chaired the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Craig Waters is a former public information officer and communications director for the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee from June 1,1996,through February 28,2022. He worked in the open government and First Amendment rights as a lawyer and governmental official. He was also the public spokesman for the Court during the 2000 presidential election controversy. He announced lawsuit rulings regarding Florida's vote in the election.
Sandra Lea Lynch is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She is the first woman to serve on that court. Lynch served as chief judge of the First Circuit from 2008 to 2015.
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."
The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston,the same building which houses the Supreme Judicial Court and the Social Law Library.
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.
President Richard Nixon entered office in 1969 with Chief Justice Earl Warren having announced his retirement from the Supreme Court of the United States the previous year. Nixon appointed Warren E. Burger to replace Earl Warren,and during his time in office appointed three other members of the Supreme Court:Associate Justices Harry Blackmun,Lewis F. Powell,and William Rehnquist. Nixon also nominated Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell for the vacancy that was ultimately filled by Blackmun,but the nominations were rejected by the United States Senate. Nixon's failed Supreme Court nominations were the first since Herbert Hoover's nomination of John J. Parker was rejected by the Senate.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is governed by a set of political tenets laid down in its state constitution. Legislative power is held by the bicameral General Court,which is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. The governor exercises executive power with other independently elected officers:the Attorney General,Secretary of the Commonwealth,and Auditor. The state's judicial power rests in the Supreme Judicial Court,which manages its court system. Cities and towns act through local governmental bodies to the extent that they are authorized by the Commonwealth on local issues,including limited home-rule authority. Although most county governments were abolished during the 1990s and 2000s,a handful remain.
Frank M. Gaziano is an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
