After Casting Key Fifth Vote For Bush, Justice O’Connor Now Regrets Bush v. Gore
Source: Think Progress
After Casting Key Fifth Vote For Bush, Justice OConnor Now Regrets Bush v. Gore
By Ian Millhiser on Apr 29, 2013 at 9:00 am
Justice Sandra Day OConnor, the conservative retired justice who provided the fifth vote to install George W. Bush as president, is now having second thoughts about that decision:
Looking back, OConnor said, she isnt sure the high court should have taken [Bush v. Gore].
It took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue, OConnor said during a talk Friday with the Tribune editorial board. Maybe the court should have said, Were not going to take it, goodbye.
The case, she said, stirred up the public and gave the court a less-than-perfect reputation.
Obviously the court did reach a decision and thought it had to reach a decision, she said. It turned out the election authorities in Florida hadnt done a real good job there and kind of messed it up. And probably the Supreme Court added to the problem at the end of the day.
If nothing else, Bush v. Gore demonstrates how justices who are determined to reach a certain result are capable of bending both the law and their own prior jurisprudence in order to achieve it. In Bush, the five conservative justices held, in the words of Harvards Larry Tribe, that equal protection of the laws required giving no protection of the laws to the thousands of still uncounted ballots.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/04/29/1931821/after-casting-key-fifth-vote-for-bush-justice-oconnor-now-regrets-bush-v-gore/
Paulie
(8,462 posts)The blood of thousands is still on your hands. Congrats for being a partisan hack, your legacy is secure!!!
I don't know what more I could add... maybe something about striking the death knell for democracy in the US.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)I'm not sure why Terry Gross still had her on. She couldn't fill a whole hour with which justices don't wear underpants under their robes and whose farts are smelliest.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)Alito would be the wild card and Roberts would be the one pretending to be offended:
Delphinus
(11,830 posts)and could not believe how horrid it was. She was really kind of mean.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)ZRT2209
(1,357 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Supreme Court and who have privately critized her actions.
beac
(9,992 posts)Everyone knows you were a devoted Bushie. Trying to distance yourself from his vile legacy isn't going to work. You'll go down in infamy just like him.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)THE LAST DAYS OF SOPHIE SCHOLL
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)She should be apologizing all around the world for her decision to vote her political party preference. Then burnt at the stake.
kairos12
(12,860 posts)She sold out our democracy. Cost the lives of tens of thousands. She is beyond vile.
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)Land of the Hanging Chad.... There are few people I detest more than O'Connor.
Jokerman
(3,518 posts)She knew it was bad law at the time but she went along for political reasons.
Now she has "regrets". yea right.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)parallel universe that emerged from the bifurcation point of that election, I can say its not perfect, but we are doing rather well there, and, by comparison to this one, we are going great!
I don't want to spoil this branch of reality much more than it already is, but imagine what it would be like if the opposite of what Bush did was the case in almost every decision that was made by his handlers. Gore did make mistakes and wasn't always progressive, but damn, you'd just have to see this for yourself to believe it.
JusticeForAll
(1,222 posts)Blandocyte
(1,231 posts)if you're Fringey.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)samsingh
(17,595 posts)deed led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.
you made it clear that you wanted a repug president by your own words
loudsue
(14,087 posts)Paladin
(28,255 posts)The damage is done, for now and all time. Thanks for nothing.
spooky3
(34,447 posts)reach a certain result are capable of bending both the law and their own prior jurisprudence in order to achieve it."
Talk about judicial activism...
Myrina
(12,296 posts).... especially after seeing Fat Tony sitting on Billo's lap at the Correspondents Dinner Saturday night.
They really need to be reigned in from having ANY kind of opinion other than merits of the law.
gateley
(62,683 posts)Iraq, Afghanistan, losing civil liberties in the name of "homeland security", the DEBT...
It was the end of our world as we knew it.
tblue
(16,350 posts)Ugh! Things will never be the same.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)and they knew exactly what they were doing, being Republican political activists!!
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)So damn right on.
Drives me crazy when I hear people --most people, really; not just the useful idiots, but intelligent professionals and colleagues--who don't have any idea of how polluted the CONservative repukes are.
So, ms. O'Connor is thinking it all over now....and her concern is "it upset the public"??!!?1!
Really? Is that all?
Glad she's concerned about the little people and our sensibilities. Such noblesse oblige
they knew what they were doing. BIG stain on "the high court of the land"
AnnieK401
(541 posts)Great.
Botany
(70,502 posts)Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2013, 11:30 AM - Edit history (1)
Thanx Sandy for the following things made possible by bush v Gore:
9/11 ..... Al Gore wouldn't have taken a month's vacation after the 8/6/2001 PDB
War in Afghanistan
War in Iraq
Surplus into a deficit thanx to tax cuts for the rich, an unfunded drug plan, two wars run "off the books" and crashing the American economy
Big Branch Mine in WV explosion and deaths .... W put the head of Massey energy in charge of the dept. of mine safety
An oil disaster in the gulf of Mexico ..... thanx Dick Cheney's energy task force ..... no need for that extra safety cut off switches
Torture
Spying
Ohio 2004
Don siegleman in jail (Rove)
Bush drunk ...... Scotland, Germany, S. America, last press conference, the 2008 Olympics (made me a proud America)
a statue of a shoe in Iraq in honor to the shoes that were pitched @ W
Jeff Gannon ....... can you imagine if Bill Clinton or Obama had a male prostitute pretending to be a reporter and spending nights @ the White House
Val Plame ...... more WMDs and God knows how many killed
Cheney shooting a man in the face after drinking
Massive outsourcing
dropping 750,000 jobs per month
a massive kill of wild run pacific salmon
Halliburton going from looking @ bankruptcy to being worth billion ..... and after looting the US treasury they split to the UAE
Fucking Rummy, Condi, Wolfowitz, doug Faith, and tons of other shits that now should be jail because of war crimes
Blackwater
doing nothing about Global warming
Gay bashing for politics
Katrina and the response ...... Katrina hit the Gulf 2,000 dead and now over time 6,000 dead ....... Sandy hitting a much more populated area 100 dead ...... grown ups back in charge
Osama extra years of life
I have to stop ..... i could keep on and on
Edit ...... 22 suicides per day by vets ..... http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/01/veterans-suicide/1883329/
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)Amazing post!
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)pearl
(1,302 posts)I have been saying for years that Sanra Day's entire "legacy" is the Presidency of GW Bush and the Vice -Presidency of Dick Cheney.
I think I'm gonna be sick. FU Sandra Day!
Botany
(70,502 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)usaf-vet
(6,181 posts)... the oath all military enlistees take is dead on:
"to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC!
May Sandra Day O'Connor suffer the same hatred that Jane Fonda has faced since Vietnam.
And I ask which one did more damage to our democracy?
Gary 50
(381 posts)It's very likely 9/11 wouldn't have happened if we had a president who cared. Bush and Cheney completely ignored the imminent attack. Other than Cheney crapping his pants in his secret location the two of them were elated that they could use the terrorist attack to justify their deeply evil plans. No 9/11, no Iraq war, no Afghanistan war, no war on terror, no economic collapse. Yeah Sandra, maybe you shouldn't have done that. MAYBE????????????
Raster
(20,998 posts)cheney* was whisked down to the ultra-hardened command bunker beneath the White House so he could watch his handiwork safe and secure, even though none of the hijacked jets had any designs on the White House... but hey, everyone had their roles to play.
Of course the orders still stand, have you heard anything to the contrary?.
gtar100
(4,192 posts)I couldn't possibly imagine that anything other than self-interest is at the heart of her regret.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)Somehow oopsie isn't enough to cover all the damage your boy did to this country and the world.
Uncle Joe
(58,355 posts)Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2013, 01:36 PM - Edit history (1)
other than that iceberg getting in the way, it was a great trip.
Thanks for the thread, Harry Monroe.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)"You and your Republican-crony Supremes wrongly saddled America with a Massive Dose of Republican FAIL, Corruption & Diaper Diddling." - The Citizens of these United States
samsingh
(17,595 posts)aaaaaa5a
(4,667 posts)The conservatives love states rights, until there side was clearly about to lose. Then, they couldn't wait to have the federal government move in.
This decision ended any real respect I had for the court. Today I look at the Supreme Court as a bunch of partisan fools rendering verdicts that help there own political cause. Its no different than what me and a few of my buddies in the neighborhood do.
Conservatives love to keep people from voting. From Jim Crow, to early voting, this decision to not allow all of Florida's vote to count takes the cake. Its one of the worst decisions in American history. And defies the "one man, one vote" principle to its extreme.
Its bad when you know how the court is going to rule before the case is even tried, simple based on the political affiliation of its judges. And this ridiculous game started with conservatives.
I hope she sleeps well at night, knowing that hundreds of thousands of innocent lives died because she put her politics above sound, constitutional, moral judgement.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)but if a state happens to inconvenience the rich, suddenly we need a powerful central government to set things right.
That goes all the way back to slavery. They wanted the states right to own slaves, but the federal law allow catching escaped slaves in free states.
burnsei sensei
(1,820 posts)nt
jwirr
(39,215 posts)struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)Shame on you, and I hope you burn in hell if there is one.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas. Think of the American servicemen and women and Iraqis who would still be alive today if they had not been on the Court.
Supreme Court appointments matter.
Obama has made some good ones.
liberal N proud
(60,334 posts)But you were in a position to have foresight.
FAIL!
rock
(13,218 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)olddad56
(5,732 posts)SaveAmerica
(5,342 posts)santamargarita
(3,170 posts)Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2013, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)
fucked up World Economy!
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)santamargarita
(3,170 posts)Politicub
(12,165 posts)O'Connor makes me want to vomit. Who cares what she thinks now? The damage has already been done.
Florida should have required a revote, not a selection by the Supreme Court.
O'Connor's legacy is defined by Bush v. Gore. Imagine being a Supreme Court justice and all that entails, not to mention being the first woman, and all that you will be known for one partisan thing.
The GOP is the enemy within and will do anything to hold onto and increase its power. This includes corruption of our judicial system by packing the court with right wingers who brought us the gem Citizens United.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)But you torpedoed your legacy by attaching it to Bushco.
neversaydie
(69 posts)but thanks for the penguin post. I needed a good laugh.
I'd laugh at Sandy's hypocrisy, but it ain't funny.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)The penguin smackdown is a metaphor for what the Supremes did to U.S. democracy in 2000.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)I cringe at thinking how much that one vote has changed our country and the entire planet.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)...trained to spot partisan whining not worthy of a high court's time.
GoCubsGo
(32,081 posts)On behalf of the millions of us who have had our lives ruined one way or another thanks to you, I say take your guilty feelings and stick them where the sun don't shine, you vile, nasty woman.
neversaydie
(69 posts)you go Grumpy Cat
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)They've all grown up hearing "by a 5 to 4 decision".
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)sofa king
(10,857 posts)Even though you spent your entire life studying the law, even though you spent years on the highest bench, you'll have a one-case biography for as long as anyone cares to remember you.
That was the most important thing you did, and by doing it you made a farce of the rule of law, so nobody has to give a shit what else you did. Go say sorry someplace where a hundred million Americans are not worse off for your decision.
I'm going to wait a couple of decades, then spray paint "Bush v Gore" on your tombstone, because that's all the epitaph you deserve.
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)Aside from things like Citizens United.
It sounds to me like we have some really stupid people on the court. But of course that isn't the case. So they must have done it on purpose for a reason. And that is unforgivable.
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... and yet it was her law firm that helped lead the fight in Arizona to effectively shut down public campaign financing there after she left the court.
Oh... She's so concerned about Citizen's United and other decisions made with Alito on the court after she left....
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/06/27/sandra_day_o_connor_worries_about_scotus_s_new_tack_on_campaign_finance.html
And read this article here on what happened in Arizona about the same time she was complaining about this.
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2010/04/21/house-panel-oks-clean-elections-repeal/
How can I be a fiscal conservative and take taxpayer money? said Rep. Bill Konopnicki, a Republican from Safford.
The bottom line is that voters need the chance to either reaffirm or reject Clean Elections, now that its been in effect for a decade, Montenegro said.
Its something the voters have put in place, and its time for them to decide if they want to keep it, he said.
The bill now moves to the Rules Committee for a constitutional check, then to the floor for consideration by the entire body.
The effort to end public campaign financing is backed primarily by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Government for Arizonas Second Century, the lobbying arm of the OConnor House Project, a group spearheaded by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor.
Does she really regret now what she did in that decision of Bush v. Gore, or like before, is she just trying to put some nice "public face" on the decision that conflicts with that public image like she's done in the past.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)and so does everyone else who hasn't done so.
The Betrayal of America:
How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President
During the course of American history, wrongful events have occurred and certain Americans have stood up and spoken out against these wrongs: Tom Paine, Edward R. Murrow, Daniel Ellsberg. Vincent Bugliosi takes his place in this special pantheon of patriots with his powerful, brilliant, and courageous expose of crime by the highest court in the land. When an article he wrote on this topic appeared in The Nation magazine in February 2001, it drew the largest outpouring of letters and e-mail in the magazine's 136-year history, tapping a deep reservoir of outrage. The original article is now expanded, amended, and backed by amplifications, endnotes, and the relevant Supreme Court documents.
http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Betrayal_of_America.html?id=1-szWVxCua0C
I read it as soon as it hit the bookstores and I agreed with every word in it and still do to this sad day.
Bush was the 2000 curse of the millennium poured over our America the once beautiful, by the filthy five on the SCOTUS. A curse that is still sucking the life blood out of this country even as I type.
valerief
(53,235 posts)azureblue
(2,146 posts)Your vote put Bush in Office, and, in turn, ruined America. Bush's destruction of America is upon your shoulders. This is what your partisanship did, and you will take this millstone to your grave.
firenewt
(298 posts)much blood on your hands no amount of soap or spin can save you from history's harshest judgment. My you be hit by a bus and linger for days before you die.
I used great restraint in writing this. What I really think would probably get me arrested. Since I'm not a RW asshole, I wouldn't get a free pass for outrageous and/or threatening statements.
Nika
(546 posts)You and the SCOTUS really screwed this country up by making sure the neocons got their man in office.
Go to hell.
Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)into the crapper. You belong in the sewer of crap as much as he does, you crapheaded, craptacular piece of crap!
Crap!
lunatica
(53,410 posts)You have no fucking idea just how much I regret Bush being selected by them.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)Fuck off, O'Connor.
Blue Owl
(50,360 posts)colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)She had a hit song in the 80's called "A Little Too Late". That song sure applies for Sandra. A little too little too late.
The damage caused by installing this guy into the WH in 2000 is incalculable. It's on five of them. The five said a continued count would cause irreparable harm to GWB, not the US. Incredible but sadly true. Live with it Sandra.
In the end Gore really won Florida so he should have won the electoral college and there is no denying he won the popular vote.
Marthe48
(16,950 posts)n/t
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)She let that piece of f**king horse s**t into the Whitehouse.
The "christian" taliban was empowered by Bush & co. Now they are trying to take the country into the dark ages of Europe.
struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)life long demo
(1,113 posts)Damage has been done, thoroughly, to this country and to the world. No absolution for you. You have blood on your hands from the people who were killed because of Bush's war, you have the lives of men, women and children on your hands for the economic collapse caused by Bush & his admin.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)recants after democracy is destroyed and hundreds of thousands of lives lost.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)No, I am not saying you're number one.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Skittles
(153,160 posts)she is DISGUSTING
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Enjoy your lava enemas.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)LAGC
(5,330 posts)I have no doubt we would be an entirely different country today had he been in charge for those 8 horrible years.
Not only would 9-11 likely not happened, but we'd still have a balanced budget today, not many trillions more in debt, I have no doubt.
May the chains of burden of guilt weigh heavily on you, Ms. O'Connor... you really are something.
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)Our favorite candidate does not need any qualifying adjective like you gave him.
Response to Harry Monroe (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)PATRICK
(12,228 posts)to quickly get Bush in. I believe it was poised, granted a Gore "squeaker" on recovering a fraction of his plurality(part of the stolen votes, not the recognized victory) to make the electoral tipping point in Florida.
Florida had already certified and chosen an electoral slate. The Congress was GOP and poised to give Bush the "win". At best, given no support at all by the media and lukewarm by his own party leadership, Gore might have made some of own case to SCOTUS on perhaps some more crucial, mindbending Constitutional issues. It was easier for SCOTUS to head that off with a quick and dirty beheading of a quick and dirty election.
As if frustrated in its destiny to quaff the full cup of shame in sealing a stolen election for Bush, Congress has been working non stop to earn its own place of ignonimy.
Old hacks with a sudden stroke of limited conscience are beyond disgusting and are uniformly impotent to do good much less repair any of the harm caused by their criminal actions. The scale of their responsibility precludes this pitiful display from being anything other than a media charade that is taken seriously only by an equally treacherous and shamed MSM. In America only the celebrity elite are forgiven, take it for granted and parade their "suffering" in front of their victims. Even with gossipy bonhomme humor thrown in.
DFW
(54,370 posts)Millions? Tens of millions? I wonder if she has even the slightest notion of the dimension of the negative effect on the world her decision had?
mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)What began in 1982 was completed in 2000. A new American Revolution, the rich against the poor.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)Maineman
(854 posts)And, more broadly, she was certainly not the worst of the 5.