O’Connor’s views, expressed in a December 10, 2000, memo, were endorsed by fellow conservative-centrist Kennedy as he took the lead in writing the unsigned “per curiam” opinion issued late on the evening of December 12, the new documents show. The decision has endured as one of the greatest threats to the court’s vaunted impartiality and institutional stature, perhaps eclipsed only recently by the court’s 5-4 decision last June reversing nearly a half century of abortion rights. The court’s views mirrored the deep divisions in the country after an election that for weeks remained too close to call and still haunts presidential contests. The four liberal justices (Stevens, with David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer) aligned with Gore and dissented angrily. The five conservative justices (O’Connor, Kennedy, Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas) sided with Bush. Bush the victory over then-Vice President Gore. Gore decision stopped county recounts for Florida’s decisive presidential electors and gave then-Texas Gov. Her move may have guaranteed that she and Kennedy had the greatest influence on the final “per curiam” opinion that spoke for a five-justice majority. O’Connor was also known for trying to get out ahead of deliberations, and her four-page memo was circulated to colleagues even before oral arguments. The strong hand of O’Connor, who was at the ideological center of the court in this era, is not wholly surprising. The documents opened at the Library of Congress help reveal how the now-retired O’Connor, the first woman on the high court and a justice steeped in politics from her early days in the Arizona legislature, partnered with Justice Anthony Kennedy, effectively squeezing out an argument advanced by then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist. They also demonstrate the tension among the nine justices being asked to decide a presidential election on short deadlines.
Memos found in the newly opened files of the late Justice John Paul Stevens offer a first-ever view of the behind-the-scenes negotiations on Bush v. Bush would win the White House over Al Gore, Supreme Court documents released on Tuesday show. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provided the early framework that steered the outcome in the dispute over the 2000 presidential election and ensured George W.
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