Bush v. Gore was a Supreme Court case that occurred in 2000 after the presidential
election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. After Florida citizens casted their votes, officials
noticed the numbers were very close; Bush led Gore by only about 1,800 votes. Florida law
allowed Gore the option of manual recount in the Florida counties of his choice. He chose to
have votes of four counties recounted. Florida law also required that the state’s election be
certified by the Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, within 7 days of the election (November
14th, 2000). Three of the four counties were unable to complete the recount by the deadline. On
November 14th, a Florida circuit court ruled that Secretary Harris must respect the deadline,
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They could not agree on
many aspects of the case, as two majority opinions and four minority opinions were filed. They
explained that they made their decision based on the fact that the state of Florida violated the
14th Amendment by enacting a recount, the Equal Protection Clause specifically. This clause
requires the federal government to respect, maintain, and uphold the legal rights of American
citizens. Government cannot infringe on the civil rights of the people. They decided that asking
for the recounts violated the rights of the citizens of Florida (phschool.com, 1).
Florida Supreme Court ruled that the recount order was unconstitutional mainly because
of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. This clause granted protection to ballots
and the citizens casting them. It forbids government from denying "to any person within their
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. The court argued that privately voting in a
presidential election is a fundamental right guarded by this clause. They also alleged that the
order consisted of unequal processes that violated the intent of the voter. These orders went
beyond the standards required to be followed by Florida law (McBride,