Bush v. Gore

The Question of Legitimacy

Bruce Ackerman

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2008
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780300127003
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The Supreme Court’s intervention in the 2000 election will shape American law and democracy long after George W. Bush has left the White House. This vitally important book brings together a broad range of preeminent legal scholars who address the larger questions raised by the Supreme Court’s actions. Did the Court’s decision violate the rule of law? Did it inaugurate an era of super-politicized jurisprudence? How should Bush v. Gore change the terms of debate over the next round of Supreme Court appointments?

The contributors—Bruce Ackerman, Jack Balkin, Guido Calabresi, Steven Calabresi, Owen Fiss, Charles Fried, Robert Post, Margaret Jane Radin, Jeffrey Rosen, Jed Rubenfeld, Cass Sunstein, Laurence Tribe, and Mark Tushnet—represent a broad political spectrum. Their reactions to the case are varied and surprising, filled with sparkling argument and spirited debate. This is a must-read book for thoughtful Americans everywhere.

Bruce Ackerman is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction: The Question of Legitimacy
• PART ONE. The Rule of Law?
• 1. An Unreasonable Reaction to a Reasonable Decision
• 2. Not as Bad as Plessy. Worse
• 3. eroG .v hsuB: Through the Looking Glass
• 4. In Partial (but not Partisan) Praise of Principle
• 5. The Fallibility of Reason
• 6. Sustaining the Premise of Legality: Learning to Live with Bush v. Gore
• 7. Can the Rule of Law Survive Bush v. Gore?
• PART TWO. Political Questions
• 8. A Political Question
• 9. Political Questions and the Hazards of Pragmatism
• 10. The Conservatism in Bush v. Gore
• 11. Does the Constitution Enact the Republican Party Platform? Beyond Bush v. Gore
• 12. O√ Balance
• 13. Legitimacy and the 2000 Election
• Contributors
• Index