REPUBLICAN JUSTICES, NC LAWYER INVOKED BUSH V. GORE 13 TIMES IN MOORE V. HARPER ARGUMENTS

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 8) — Republican Supreme Court justices and North Carolina’s legal team invoked Bush v. Gore 13 different times during yesterday’s Moore v. Harper hearing, despite the fact that the Court’s opinion in Bush v. Gore explicitly stated that it was not intended to create precedent.

“It’s kind of perfect,” said Take Back the Court Executive Director Sarah Lipton-Lubet. “These right-wing justices have turned ignoring legal precedent into an artform. And here they are invoking the last time GOP-appointed justices handed Republicans a presidential election just as they’re thinking about stealing the next one. It’s so on the nose it would be funny if it weren’t deadly serious.”

When five Republican-appointed justices ruled on party lines to end Florida’s 2000 election recount, they effectively installed George W. Bush as president. In doing so they wrote, “Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities.”

That admonishment did not stop the present-day conservative bloc of justices and the legal team defending the Insurrectionist State Legislature Theory from invoking the infamous decision. Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh referenced Bush v. Gore twice, and Justices Barrett and Gorsuch once each. David Thompson, the lawyer for the North Carolina legislature, referenced the case seven times.

Earlier this week, Take Back the Court Action Fund released an interactive map showing how the right-wing Supreme Court justices could hand Republicans as many as 37 electoral votes in 2024 if they embrace the fringe “Independent State Legislature” theory at the center of Moore.

###