In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Al Gore recalled the events seven years ago when
the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the vote in Florida and handed the Presidency to Bush.
At the time, many in Official Washington rejoiced at the decision on the grounds that it
spared the country more partisanship. It also was the result that many top pundits wanted,
the “election” of the well-liked Texas governor and the return of the so-called Republican
“adults” who supposedly would guide him.
There was remarkably little concern among the Washington elites that the will of the
American people was being overturned, that Gore had won a plurality of the votes cast
across the country and was almost certainly the choice of Florida voters, too.
The hot word of the moment was “legitimacy.” It was deemed important to assure the
American people that Bush’s selection was “legitimate” even if Bush would be the first
popular-vote loser in more than a century to enter the White House.
But the day that those five U.S. Supreme Court justices overturned a recount order from
the Florida Supreme Court – Dec. 12, 2000 – also was a turning point in American history.