What if Bush v. Gore Went the Other Way?

Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 01:12 PM

Al Gore, as if he were in the Oval Office. Al Gore, as if he were in the Oval Office as president (The Takeaway)

“Get over it!” is the advice from Justice Antonin Scalia. Ten years ago this weekend, the U.S. Supreme Court put an end to the recount in Florida, which gave the state's electoral votes to George W. Bush. A decade on, it seems it's hard for some people to forget.

We're revisiting the case that determined who would occupy the White House in 2000 and asking, what if Gore had won?

Jeffrey Toobin writes in this week's New Yorker that after Bush v. Gore, Supreme Court justices wanted to leave the decision behind them. Unlike other big decisions, he writes, the Court has not cited that decision one time since it was made. Because of this anomaly concludes, "The case didn't just scar the Court’s record; it damaged the Court’s honor."

He also points out that no Justice put his or her name on the opinion (something that only usually happens in minor cases).

Meanwhile, New York Magazine is imagining what a Gore administration might have looked like. Author (and Studio 360 host) Kurt Andersen has a creative round-up of some of the chain reaction effects, including Gore's response to the terrorist attacks of "September 10," which happened a month after the CIA struck and killed Bin laden.

"The 9/10 attacks had given political momentum to both of his animating policy passions — a muscular U.S. in the Middle East and a sustainable energy policy."

We'll dig deeper into this big hypothetical situation with Kurt Andersen on Friday, but we're asking you to finish this sentence: What if Bush v. Gore went the other way?

Some of you have a rosy view of what things would look like today.

A texter in Massachusetts says, “We would at least have comprehensive climate change legislation and fewer violations of civil rights.” And a Florida listener writes: “The entire world would not be in an economic crisis & everyone would already be driving electric cars.”

But others were not so happy about a fictitious Gore administration. A text from Providence, R.I. reads, “We would still be debating what to do in response to the 9/11 attack.”

And a listener from Florida (an apt location) says, “People would still complain. And no, i am not a republican.”

Meanwhile, here's what former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said when asked by WNYC's Brian Lehrer why she denied Florida the right to recount votes in its own state:

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Comments [4]

Leif from Chicago

9-11 would still have happened, Steve. Don't kid yourself.

Dec. 09 2010 06:03 PM
Steven Butler via Facebook

911 and Katrina still would have happened. I don't care for Bush, but I don't think Pres. Obama would be president right now if Gore would have won.

Dec. 09 2010 03:05 PM
Steve Skulnik ‎via Facebook from New York, NY

NO 9-11, no wars, no deregulation gone amok, budget surpluses as far as the eye could see.

Dec. 09 2010 03:05 PM
Brendan Turley via Facebook from Miami, Fla.

More people would accept climate change and Obama wouldn't be president.

Dec. 09 2010 03:02 PM

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