IP: Review of two new books on the Supreme Court's Bush vs. Gore ruling

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 01:45:44 -0700
> From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ultradevices com>
>
> A very interesting article!
> http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/07/04/dershowitz/index.html
>
> Against the law
>
> Two new books make it clear that the Supreme Court's notorious Bush
> vs.  Gore ruling wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. It was worse.
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - -
> By Gary Kamiya
>
> July 4, 2001 | The Supreme Court's ruling in Bush vs. Gore, which
> stopped the Florida recount and handed the presidency to George
> W. Bush, was one of most controversial rulings in the court's
> history. It inspired an unprecedented flood of outrage: In print and
> in conversation, in chat rooms and classrooms, law professors,
> journalists and ordinary citizens alike expressed shock, disbelief and
> deep anger at the decision. As one might expect, the reaction to the
> ruling tended (though by no means absolutely) to break down along
> partisan lines, but there was a notable asymmetry: Outside the noisy
> precincts of braying-head TV commentators, the court's supporters were
> considerably less outspoken -- and assured -- than its critics.
>
> The implicit reasoning of those who backed the decision seemed to be
> "It wasn't pretty, but it had to be done" -- not a position easy to
> defend publicly.  (And since the outcome was both favorable to their
> side and irreversible, arguments were unnecessary anyway.) The
> critics, for their part, were convinced that the nation's highest
> judicial body, whose members are answerable to no one, had pulled off
> a judicial coup d'état, its conservative majority, on the thinnest of
> legal pretexts, arrogantly handing the election to the candidate it
> preferred -- in the process possibly nullifying the votes of 50
> million Americans.
>
> <snip>
> --
> Robert J. Berger
> UltraDevices, Inc.
> 257 Castro Street, Suite 223 Mt. View CA. 94041
> Voice: 408-882-4755 Fax: 408-490-2868
> Email: rberger () ultradevices com  http://www.ultradevices.com



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