Supreme Court set to have 3 Bush v. Gore alumni sitting on the bench

By Renee G

·October 18, 2020

Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the third day of her confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill on October 14, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

After her confirmation, Amy Coney Barrett will be one of the three current Supreme Court justices who assisted the legal team of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the Florida ballot recount conflict that came down to only one vote at the Supreme Court.

Of course Amy Coney Barrett won't say if a president should commit to a peaceful transfer of power. She was on the Bush legal team that stole the 2000 election. This is part of why Republicans picked her. If the election is close they will try to orchestrate another Bush v. Gore.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) October 13, 2020

The court’s decision to cut off Florida recounts in 2000 tore apart the justices and the nation, and now, twenty years later, the controversial case still hovers in the air as America approaches the next presidential election.

Other current-day justices benefited from the ruling that gave Bush the White House over Vice President Al Gore, as they ultimately became Bush appointees to the bench.

In November 2000, John Roberts, then in private practice, flew to Florida to assist Bush’s legal team. He helped prepare and offered advice to the lawyer who presented Bush’s case to the Florida state Supreme Court.

After Bush became president, he nominated Roberts to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and the Senate confirmed him in 2003. In 2005 Bush elevated Roberts to the chief justice position. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Roberts refused to disclose his opinion of the justices’ 2000 decision, stating that a disputed election could come to the court again.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh was also in private practice in 2000 and assisted the Bush legal team. After the election, Bush hired Kavanaugh to be a counsel and then staff secretary.

Great to hear a lawyer who worked for Team Bush in Bush v. Gore testify that she's never thought or written about law around a disputed presidential election
— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca) October 13, 2020

Bush later appointed Kavanaugh to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In 2018, President Donald Trump elevated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

During her hearings, Barrett admitted to working on the Bush v. Gore case, but she told senators that she couldn’t recall specifics of her involvement.

Under questioning from Democratic senators she declined to commit to recusing herself from any Trump election case.

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