Bush v. Gore

Table of Contents

Bush v. Gore
Overview
Context
About the Author
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
Impact
Document Text

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Abstract

Traditionally, the federal courts have refused to become involved in “political question suits,” or disputes arising from and revolving around the political process. Foremost among such disputes are questions over electoral outcomes. Election contests tend to be messy; by definition, such events speak directly to the divided will of the people. Especially where certain voting laws have been bent or broken, a “right” or “wrong” solution to a dispute often cannot be determined. Inevitably, judges have to make choices that seem to ignore the will of at least a part of the electorate. As Justice Felix Frankfurter noted in 1946’s Colegrove v. Green, the democratic state simply presents some “demands on judicial power which . . . [are] not meet for judicial determination,” for “it is hostile to a democratic system to involve the judiciary in the politics of the people.” He concluded, “Courts ought not to enter this political thicket.”

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