John Paul Stevens: Bush Appeal to the Supreme Court was Frivolous

[Stuart G]

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/10/john-paul-stevens-bush_n_1003907.html


Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens writes in his new memoir, Five Chiefs, that the George W. Bush campaign's 2000 appeal to the United States Supreme Court over the Florida recount was "frivolous" and never should have been granted.

He recalls bumping into Justice Stephen Breyer at a Christmas party and the two having a brief conversation about the Bush application to halt the recount by issuing a stay. "We agreed that the application was frivolous," he writes. "To secure a stay, a litigant must show that one is necessary to prevent a legally cognizable irreparable injury. Bush's attorneys had failed to make any such showing."

By a five-to-four vote, the court granted the stay. "What I still regard as a frivolous stay application kept the court extremely busy for four days," he writes. He adds that no justice has ever cited the opinions that provided the basis for their ruling.

[lector]

1. Yea right

But it didn't stop them did it ? Ever wonder why ?

[On the Road]

2. Of All the Infamous Supreme Court Rulings --

Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, etc -- Bush v. Gore is the one with the least foundation in law. Regardless of the moral implications, you could make a reasonable case based on law that slaves, being property, could be transported over state lines, or that separate does not necessarily mean unequal.

The Bush v Gore decision is utterly baseless. It puts the entire American judicial process in a bad light.

[tblue]

3. And we will never be the same.

Didn't Sandra Day O'Connor say she regrets her vote? What a travesty the whole thing was.

[DirkGently]

4. The country stolen right in front of us. Not hyperbole. Fact.

[Citizen Worker]

6. And we sat idly by and did nothing.

[DirkGently]

8. Yes, but the theft isn't over. Nor the opportunity to act.

[Uncle Joe]

5. It was a judicial coup and we will be suffering the consequences of that

catastrophically, corrupted decision for decades if not longer.

Thanks for the thread, Stuart G.

[libinnyandia]

7. election 2000

It all would have been prevented if progressives hadn't been divided in 2000. If Nader hadn't got 20000 votes in NH, Florida would have been irrelevant

[Zoeisright]

9. No shit, Sherlock.

That was a coup. Period.

[benld74]

10. Like the pidgeon says COUP,COUP COUP,,,,