The 2000 Presidential election led to a collision of heritage, legislations, and the courts. It produced a impasse that dragged out the outcome for over a month, and consequences--real and imagined--that promise to pull on for years. within the first in-depth research of the election and its litigious aftermath, pass judgement on Posner surveys the historical past and idea of yankee electoral legislations and perform, analyzes which Presidential candidate ''really'' gained the preferred vote in Florida, surveys the litigation that ensued, evaluates the courts, the legal professionals, and the commentators, and ends with a blueprint for reforming our Presidential electoral practices.

The ebook starts off with an summary of the electoral strategy, together with its historical past and guiding theories. It appears subsequent on the Florida election itself, exploring which candidate ''really'' received and even if this is often even a significant query. the point of interest then shifts to the complicated litigation, either nation and federal, provoked through the photograph end. at the foundation of the pragmatic jurisprudence that pass judgement on Posner has articulated and defended in his past writings, this publication bargains an alternate justification for the splendid Court's selection in Bush v. Gore whereas praising the court docket for heading off the chaotic outcomes of an unresolved deadlock.

Posner additionally evaluates the functionality of the legal professionals who carried out the post-election litigation and of the teachers who commented at the unfolding drama. He argues that neither Gore's nor Bush's attorneys blundered heavily, yet that the response of the criminal professoriat to the litigation uncovered critical flaws within the educational perform of constitutional legislations. whereas rejecting such radical strikes as abolishing the Electoral collage or making a nationwide poll, Posner concludes with a close plan of possible reforms designed to prevent a repetition of the 2000 election fiasco.

Lawyers, political scientists, pundits, and politicians are ready to listen to what pass judgement on Posner has to assert. yet this e-book is written for and should be welcomed by means of all who have been riveted via the hot quandary of presidential succession.