Monday, November 04, 2002

Tbogg brings us this by the almost always intelligent Dahlia Lithwick:


The reason Bush v. Gore doesn't create a precedent for the court to jump into midterm election battles is that Bush v. Gore deliberately and reflexively didn't create a precedent for anything. Remember the court's brazen limitation of its holding: "Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities."


Even the staunchest defenders of the majority decision in Bush v. Gore defend it only on the grounds that the presidential election needed to be resolved quickly and definitively, not because they believe its holding was consistent with the court's federalism, equal protection, or voting jurisprudence. So who could expect the court to apply this reasoning to any future cases? Even the majority knew they were just making it up!