Nitzburg On The Nation:  The End Of Election 2000  What The Bush Victory Means For Our Nations Future

by Arthur Nitzburg, Queens Courier Political Analyst
Former Secretary of State James Baker tried to put a brave front on his Tuesday night comments by noting that seven justices agree with the Supreme Court ruling that effectively gave George W. Bush and Dick Cheney the White House. But the stark reality is that it was an ideological 5-4 divide with conservative justices going for Bush and more liberal justices going for Gore. This decision has irreparably damaged the credibility of the Supreme Court for a generation to come and has damaged public confidence in its sense of fair play and its neutrality. There will be hell to pay for this folly of Scalia and Thomas and Rhenquist and OConnor and Kennedy.
What is equally plain is that Gore, who won the popular vote nationally, would have won the Florida vote had the Florida court-ordered recount been allowed to proceed. In fact, the Supreme Court acted to stop the recount about half an hour after the first news reports surfaced that put Gore ahead of Bush in the recount. In short, the Supreme Court didnt like the actual winner of the Presidential election and acted to nullify the results.
As if this were not enough, the Florida legislature was set to nullify the election results and declare Bush the winner if the Supreme Court had not acted in its stead. Elections be damned, they said. If we dont like the choice of the people, we will impose our own choice. The decisions of the Florida legislature and the Supreme Court in nullifying the Presidential vote seem more the actions of a dictatorial junta than those of the leaders of a proud democracy.
Frightening and dangerous precedents have now been set. If a legislature can nullify election results after the fact, then why have elections at all? Indeed, from now on presidential campaigning should involve mainly trying to win control of the nations state legislatures. They, and not the people, could now decide who is to be President.
Similarly, control of the Supreme Court can now trump state law. Five justices have proved willing enough in this case to overturn the expression of the popular will. The precedent has now been set to have the Supreme Court enter cases again and again to dictate the election results. Justice Frankfurter warned repeatedly of the dangers of the Supreme Court entering what he called the political thicket. Now the Courts have not only entered it with a vengeance, but have claimed supremacy over the popular will in its determinations. It is a moment where the nations fundamental political institutions are teetering on the top of the Washington Monument and seem likely to fall and smash to pieces.
The Republicans in the new Bush administration and in Congress have a few brief moments to reach out to conciliate the aggrieved Democratic majority before a political civil war begins. If they are not blind to the reality of their situation, they will understand that they have won the Oval office but can claim neither the power nor the mandate of the Presidency. Exactly how they can share power with the nations Democrats is a matter best left to them. But share it they must if our nation is to hold together in the years to come.