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The Vote

Bush, Gore, and the Supreme Court

Though George W. Bush took office in January, the nation is still recovering from the prolonged and complex process by which he was elected. The Florida electoral controversy and the subsequent decisions by both the Florida courts and the U.S. Supreme Court left citizens and scholars alike divided over the role of the judiciary in the electoral arena. Now, after a few months of reflection, leading constitutional scholarsCass R. Sunstein, Richard A. Epstein, Pamela S. Karlan, Richard A. Posner, and John Yoo, among others—weigh in on the Supreme Court’s actions, which remain sensible, legally legitimate, and pragmatically defensible to some and an egregious abuse of power to others. Representing the full spectrum of views and arguments, The Vote offers the most timely and considered guide to the ultimate consequences and significance of the Supreme Court’s decision.

The contributors to this volume were highly visible in the national media while the controversy raged, and here they present fully fleshed-out arguments for the positions they promoted on the airwaves. Readers will find in The Vote equally impassioned defenses for and indictments of the Court’s actions, and they will come to understand the practical and theoretical implications of the Court’s ruling in the realms of both law and politics. No doubt a spate of books will appear on the 2000 presidential election, but none will claim as distinguished a roster of contributors better qualified to place these recent events in their appropriate historical, legal, and political contexts.

Leading constitutional scholars render their verdicts on the 2000 presidential election controversy

Contributors:

Richard A. Epstein

Elizabeth Garrett

Samuel Issacharoff

Pamela S. Karlan

Michael W. McConnell

Frank I. Michelman

Richard H. Pildes

Richard A. Posner

David A. Strauss

Cass R. Sunstein

John Yoo

An earlier electronic edition of The Vote was available on the University of Chicago Press Web site.

See the online draft edition of the book.


232 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2001

Law and Legal Studies: The Constitution and the Courts

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Introduction: Of Law and Politics—Cass R. Sunstein
"In such Manner as the Legislature Thereof May Direct": The Outcome in Bush v Gore Defended—Richard A. Epstein
Leaving the Decision to Congress—Elizabeth Garrett
Political Judgments—Samuel Issacharoff
The Newest Equal Protection: Regressive Doctrine on a Changeable Court—Pamela S. Karlan
Two-and-a-Half Cheers for Bush v Gore—Michael W. McConnell
Suspicion, or the New Prince—Frank I. Michelman
Democracy and Disorder—Richard H. Pildes
Bush v Gore: Prolegomenon to an Assessment—Richard A. Posner
Bush v Gore: What Were They Thinking?—David A. Strauss
Order Without Law—Cass R. Sunstein
In Defense of the Court’s Legitimacy—John C. Yoo
Afterword: Whither Electoral Reforms in the Wake of Bush v Gore—Richard A. Epstein
Index

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