O'Connor voices regret over Bush v. Gore

Retired justice suggests for 1st time that court should have avoided presidential race

4/29/2013

WASHINGTON — Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is suggesting for the first time that the court should have stayed out of the 2000 presidential election dispute between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

The 83-year-old O’Connor tells the Chicago Tribune editorial board that perhaps she and her colleagues should have turned down the Bush campaign’s appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision to allow a recount requested by the Gore campaign.

O’Connor was in the majority in the high court’s 5-4 decision that stopped the recount and sealed Bush’s election. She has long lamented the controversy over the decision that she said gave the court a “less-than-perfect reputation.”

But in the past, O’Connor has said the court had no choice but to take on the case. She retired in 2006.