445 Law Professors Say: By Stopping the Vote Count in Florida, The U.S. Supreme Court Used Its Power To Act as Political Partisans, Not Judges of a Court of Law

We are Professors of Law at 104 American law schools, from every part of our country, of different political beliefs. But we all agree that when a bare majority of the U.S. Supreme Court halted the recount of ballots under Florida law, the five justices were acting as political proponents for candidate Bush, not as judges.

It is Not the Job of a Federal Court to Stop Votes From Being Counted

By stopping the recount in the middle, the five justices acted to suppress the facts. Justice Scalia argued that the justices had to interfere even before the Supreme Court heard the Bush team's arguments because the recount might "cast a cloud upon what [Bush] claims to be the legitimacy of his election." In other words, the conservative justices moved to avoid the "threat" that Americans might learn that in the recount, Gore got more votes than Bush. This was presumably "irreparable" harm because if the recount proceeded and the truth once became known, it would never again be possible to completely obscure the facts. But it is not the job of the courts to polish the image of legitimacy of the Bush presidency by preventing disturbing facts from being confirmed. Suppressing the facts to make the Bush government seem more legitimate is the job of propagandists, not judges.

By taking power from the voters, the Supreme Court has tarnished its own legitimacy. As teachers whose lives have been dedicated to the rule of law, we protest.

[Listing of institutional affiliation is for identification only]

Stephen Gottlieb, Albany Law School
Timothy D. Lytton, Albany Law School
Nancy M. Maurer, Albany Law School
Nancy K. Ota, Albany Law School
Daniel Bradlow, American University
Robert Dinerstein, American University
Christine Farley, American University
Binny Miller, American University
Elliott S. Milstein, American University
Teemu Ruskola, American University
Herman Schwartz, American University
Ann Shalleck, American University
Brenda V. Smith, American University
Leti Volpp, American University
Judith E. Koons, Barry University
Arthur L. Berney, Boston College
Mark S. Brodin, Boston College
Peter A. Donovan, Boston College
Leslie Goldie Espinoza, Boston College
Anthony Paul Farley, Boston College
Phillis Goldfarb, Boston College
Ingrid Hillinger, Boston College
Ray Madoff, Boston College
Zygmunt J. B. Plater, Boston College
Evangeline Sarda, Boston College
Catharine Wells, Boston College
Elizabeth M. Schneider, Brooklyn Law School
Mark A. Broida, California Western School of Law
Peter M. Shane, Carnegie Mellon University
Catherine F. Klein, Catholic University
Ralph L Brill, Chicago Kent College of Law
Joan Steinman, Chicago Kent College of Law
Dan Tarlock, Chicago Kent College of Law
Lori Andrews, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Tim Holbrook, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Molly Lien, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Sheldon Nahmod, Chicago-Kent College of Law
David S. Rudstein, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Richard W. Wright, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Frank E. Deale, City University of New York
Beryl Blaustone, City University of New York
Janet M. Calvo , City University of New York
Pamela Edwards, City University of New York
Ellen Mosen James, City University of New York
Maivân Clech Lâm, City University of New York
Ruthann Robson, City University of New York
Merrick T. Rossein, City University of New York
Thomas D. Buckley, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Michael H. Davis, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Candice Hoke, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Patricia A. McCoy, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Lloyd Snyder, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Alan C. Weinstein, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Frederic White, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Ellen Chapnick, Columbia University
George P. Fletcher, Columbia University
Katherine Franke, Columbia University
Frank P. Grad, Columbia University
Alice Haemmerli, Columbia University
Kendall Thomas, Columbia University
Patricia J. Williams, Columbia University
Kathryn Abrams, Cornell University
Martha L.A. Fineman, Cornell University
William A. Kell, Cornell University
Raneta Lawson Mack, Creighton University
Mary E. Becker, DePaul University
Sally B. Frank, Drake University
Jerome M. Culp, Duke University
Allison Rice, Duke University
Deborah W. Denno, Fordham University
Michael Madison, Fordham University
Frederic Neustadt, Fordham University
Mark R. Patterson, Fordham University
Beth G. Schwartz, Fordham University
Marcella Silverman, Fordham University
Kenneth Anderson, Georgetown University
Michael Diamond, Georgetown University
Charles R. III Lawrence, Georgetown University
Naomi Mezey, Georgetown University
Elizabeth H. Patterson, Georgetown University
Warren Schwartz, Georgetown University
Abbe Smith, Georgetown University
Girardeau A. Spann, Georgetown University
Michael Landau, Georgia State University
Jon H. Sylvester, Golden Gate University
James Coben, Hamline University
Robin K. Magee, Hamline University
Jill Soffiyah Elijah, Harvard University
Stefan H. Krieger, Hofstra University
Spencer H. Boyer, Howard University
Lisa A. Crooms, Howard University
Steven D. Jamar, Howard University
Warner Lawson, Jr., Howard University
Michael deHaven Newsom, Howard University
Jeannine Bell, Indiana University
Cathy E. Crosson, Indiana University
Colleen Kristl Pauwels, Indiana University
Gene R. Shreve, Indiana University
Earl R.C. Singleton, Indiana University
Kenneth Kandaras, John Marshall Law School
Paula Kaldis Dickinson, Massachusetts School of Law
Andrej Thomas Starkis, Massachusetts School of Law
Ilene Klein, New England
Arthur S. Leonard, New York Law School
Carlin Meyer, New York Law School
Denise C. Morgan, New York Law School
Rudolph J.R. Peritz, New York Law School
Tanina Rostain, New York Law School
Richard K. Sherwin, New York Law School
Derrick Bell, New York University
Holly Maguigan, New York University
Diane Zimmerman, New York University
Amy E. Berger, Northwestern University
Cynthia Grant Bowman, Northwestern University
Joyce A. Hughes, Northwestern University
Barry McNamara, Northwestern University
Annelise Riles, Northwestern University
Ora Schub, Northwestern University
Carole Silver, Northwestern University
Cathryn E. Stewart, Northwestern University
Charles Wilson, Ohio State University
Linda Fentiman, Pace University
Vanessa Merton, Pace University
Paul O'Neil, Pace University
Richard Ottinger, Pace University
Ralph Michael Stein, Pace University
Frank Askin, Rutgers University
Alan Hyde, Rutgers University
John Leubsdorf, Rutgers University
James Pope, Rutgers University
Ellen Kreitzberg, Santa Clara University
C. Ridolfi, Santa Clara University
Margaret M. Russell, Santa Clara University
Melinda Branscomb, Seattle University
Lisa Brodoff, Seattle University
Margaret Chon, Seattle University
William Galloway, Seattle University
Raven Lidman, Seattle University
Kellye Testy, Seattle University
Ken Wing, Seattle University
Michelle Adams, Seton Hall University
Ahmed Bulbulia, Seton Hall University
Andrew T. Solomon, South Texas College of Law
Kenneth Williams, Southern Illinois University
Jane Dolkart, Southern Methodist University
Darren Lenard Hutchinson, Southern Methodist University
Frederick C. Moss, Southern Methodist University
Katherine C. Sheehan, Southwestern University
Larry Joseph, St. John’s University
Jeff Sovern, St. John’s University
Susan Stabile, St. John’s University
Charles S. Bobis, St. John's University
Tanya Hernandez, St. John's University
Barbara Babcock, Stanford University
Joe Bankman, Stanford University
William Cohen, Stanford University
John J. Donohue, Stanford University
Richard Thompson Ford, Stanford University
Barbara Fried, Stanford University
William B. Gould, Stanford University
Henry T. Greely, Stanford University
Mark G. Kelman, Stanford University
Miguel A. Mendez, Stanford University
David Mills, Stanford University
Robert Rabin, Stanford University
Margaret Jane Radin, Stanford University
Michael Wald, Stanford University
Robert Weisberg, Stanford University
Robert Batey, Stetson University
Dorothea Beane, Stetson University
James J. Brown, Stetson University
Mark R. Brown, Stetson University
Ann M. Piccard, Stetson University
Michael Avery, Suffolk Law School
Donna E. Arzt, Syracuse University
Leslie Bender, Syracuse University
Angela O. Burton, Syracuse University
David Driesen, Syracuse University
Richard Goldsmith, Syracuse University
Paula C. Johnson, Syracuse University
M. Louise Lantzy, Syracuse University
Steven Marchese, Syracuse University
Janis L. McDonald, Syracuse University
Robert J. Bartow, Temple University
Susan L. DeJarnatt, Temple University
Phoebe A. Haddon, Temple University
Eleanor W. Myers, Temple University
Eddie Ohlbaum, Temple University
Martin Levy, Texas Southern University
Anthony M . Dillof, Texas Wesleyan University
W. Robert Gray, Texas Wesleyan University
Charlotte Hughart, Texas Wesleyan University
Marjorie Cohn, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Colin Crawford, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Ilene Durst, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
A. Thomas Golden, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Bruce N. Morton, Touro Law Center
Marjorie Silver, Touro Law Center
Eileen Kaufman, Touro Law School
Richard Klein, Touro Law School
Carole Shapiro, Touro Law School
Peter Zablotsky, Touro Law School
Robert S. Westley, Tulane University
Robert S. Westley, Tulane University
Lauren B. Edelman, UC Berkeley
Angela P. Harris, UC Berkeley
Linda Krieger, UC Berkeley
Christopher Kutz, UC Berkeley
Ian Haney Lopez, UC Berkeley
Robert P. Merges, UC Berkeley
Joseph Sax, UC Berkeley
Marjorie M. Shultz, UC Berkeley
Norman W. Spaulding , UC Berkeley
Stephanie Wildman, UC Berkeley
Susan D. Christian, UC Davis
Bill Ong Hing, UC Davis
Evelyn A. Lewis, UC Davis
David I. Levine, UC Hastings
Harry G. Prince, UC Hastings
Keith Wingate, UC Hastings
Madhavi Sunder, UCDavis
Richard L. Abel, UCLA
Alison Grey Anderson, UCLA
Peter Arenella, UCLA
Kimberly Hall Barlow, UCLA
Devon W. Carbado, UCLA
Sharon Dolovich, UCLA
Leon Letwin, UCLA
Lynn M. LoPucki, UCLA
Frances Olsen, UCLA
Bill Jordan, University of Akron
Brant T. Lee, University of Akron
Wythe W. Holt, Jr., University of Alabama
Norman J. Singer, University of Alabama
Barbara Babb, University of Baltimore
Richard W. Bourne, University of Baltimore
Robert H. Lande, University of Baltimore
Kenneth Lassion, University of Baltimore
Jonathan C. Lipson, University of Baltimore
Odeana R. Neal, University of Baltimore
Craig B. Futterman, University of Chicago
Randall D. Schmidt, University of Chicago
Gabriel Chin, University of Cincinnati
Marianne Wesson, University of Colorado
Thomas Morawetz, University of Connecticut
Jeremy Paul, University of Connecticut
Robert A. Kreiss, University of Dayton
Vernellia Randall, University of Dayton
Richard Saphire, University of Dayton
Andrea M. Seielstad, University of Dayton
Allen Sultan, University of Dayton
Tami Cowden, University of Denver
George Dawson, University of Florida
Berta Esperanza Hernandez-Truyol, University of Florida
Kenneth Nunn, University of Florida
Juan F. Perea, University of Florida
Milner S. Ball, University of Georgia
Francis A. Boyle, University of Illinois
Patrick B. Bauer, University of Iowa
Stephen J. Burton, University of Iowa
Robert N. Clinton, University of Iowa
Burns H. Weston, University of Iowa
David J. Gottlieb, University of Kansas
Judith D. Fischer, University of Louisville
Samuel A. Marcosson, University of Louisville
Judy Potter, University of Maine
Michael Fischl, University of Miama
David Abraham, University of Miami
Donna Coker, University of Miami
Clark Freshman, University of Miami
Lili Levi, University of Miami
Martha Mahoney, University of Miami
Layman Allen, University of Michigan
David Chambers, University of Michigan
Kenneth Chestek, University of Michigan
Alyson Cole, University of Michigan
Don Duquette, University of Michigan
Sam Gross, University of Michigan
James C. Hathaway, University of Michigan
Richard Lempert, University of Michigan
Roberta J. Morris, University of Michigan
Paul D. Reingold, University of Michigan
Terrance Sandalow, University of Michigan
Suellyn Scarnechhia, University of Michigan
Frank E. Vandervort, University of Michigan
Christina B. Whitman, University of Michigan
Beverly Balos, University of Minnesota
Ann M. Burkhart, University of Minnesota
Mary Louise Fellows, University of Minnesota
Maury Landsman, University of Minnesota
Richard L. Barnes, University of Mississippi
Edwin T. Hook, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Nancy Levit, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Robert R.M. Verchick, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Raquel Aldana-Pindell, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Jennifer B. Anderson, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Kay P. Kindred, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Terrill Pollman, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Sherri Burr, University of New Mexico
Denise D. Fort, University of New Mexico
Richard A Gonzales, University of New Mexico
M. Faye Hadley, University of New Mexico
Scott H. Hughes, University of New Mexico
Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, University of New Mexico
Margaret Montoya, University of New Mexico
Walker Blakey, University of North Carolina
Adrienne D. Davis, University of North Carolina
Joseph R. Kalo, University of North Carolina
Gene R. Nichol, University of North Carolina
Richard Rosen, University of North Carolina
William Turnier, University of North Carolina
A. Mark Weisburd, University of North Carolina
Deborah M. Weissman, University of North Carolina
Judith Fox, University of Notre Dame
Conrad Kellenberg, University of Notre Dame
Sandra S. Klein, University of Notre Dame
James H. Seckinger, University of Notre Dame
Thomas L. Shaffer, University of Notre Dame
J. Eric Smithburn, University of Notre Dame
Barbara Bader Aldave, University of Oregon
Keith Aoki, University of Oregon
Michael Axline, University of Oregon
John E. Bonine, University of Oregon
Garrett Epps, University of Oregon
Caroline Forell, University of Oregon
Ibrahim Gassama, University of Oregon
Ralph James Mooney, University of Oregon
James M. O’Fallon, University of Oregon
Dominick Vetri, University of Oregon
Mary Christina Wood, University of Oregon
C. Edwin Baker, University of Pennsylvania
Howard Chang, University of Pennsylvania
Samuel Freeman, University of Pennsylvania
Valerie Hans, University of Pennsylvania
Howard Lesnick, University of Pennsylvania
Richard G. Lonsdorf, University of Pennsylvania
David Rudovsky, University of Pennsylvania
Deborah L. Brake, University of Pittsburgh
Thomas Buchele, University of Pittsburgh
John M. Burkoff, University of Pittsburgh
Marvein Fein, University of Pittsburgh
Lawrence A. Frolik, University of Pittsburgh
Anthony C. Infanti, University of Pittsburgh
Jules Lobel, University of Pittsburgh
William V. Luneburg, University of Pittsburgh
Alan Meisel, University of Pittsburgh
Ann Sinsheimer, University of Pittsburgh
Rhonda Wasserman, University of Pittsburgh
Joshua P. Davis, University of San Francisco
John Denvir, University of San Francisco
Susan Freiwald, University of San Francisco
Sharon Meadows, University of San Francisco
Suzanne Mounts, University of San Francisco
Steven F. Shatz, University of San Francisco
Frederick Tung, University of San Francisco
Carol Wilson, University of San Francisco
Alexander Morgan Capron, University of Southern California
Mary L. Dudziak, University of Southern California
Ariela Gross, University of Southern California
Greg Keating, University of Southern California
Karen A. Lash, University of Southern California
Denise Meyer, University of Southern California
Rob Saltzman, University of Southern California
Dan Simon, University of Southern California
W. David Slawson, University of Southern California
David A. Anderson, University of Texas
Mitchell Berman, University of Texas
Sarah Cleveland, University of Texas
Joseph M. Dodge, University of Texas
Robert W. Hamilton, University of Texas
Patricia Hansen, University of Texas
J. Patrick Hazel, University of Texas
Calvin Johnson, University of Texas
Susan R. Klein, University of Texas
Sanford Levinson, University of Texas
Richard S. Markovits, University of Texas
Inga Markovits, University of Texas
Thomas O. McGarrity, University of Texas
Neil Netanel, University of Texas
Charles Silver, University of Texas
Louise Weinberg, University of Texas
Zipporah Batshaw Wiseman, University of Texas
David W. Miller, University of the Pacific (McGeorge)
Mary-Beth Moylan, University of the Pacific (McGeorge)
David T. Sammond, University of the Pacific (McGeorge)
Michael Vitiello, University of the Pacific (McGeorge)
Phil Wile, University of the Pacific (McGeorge)
Marguerite Chapman, University of Tulsa
Linda Lacey, University of Tulsa
Kathleen Waits, University of Tulsa
Richard I. Aaron, University of Utah
Leslie Francis, University of Utah
Terry S. Kogan, University of Utah
Juliet M. Brodie, University of Wisconsin
Nina L. Camic, University of Wisconsin
Margaret Danielson, University of Wisconsin
Leonard V. Kaplan, University of Wisconsin
Stephen Meili, University of Wisconsin
John Pray, University of Wisconsin
Joel Rogers, University of Wisconsin
Jane Schacter, University of Wisconsin
David S. Schwartz, University of Wisconsin
Frank M. Tuerkheimer, University of Wisconsin
William C. Whitford, University of Wisconsin
Rebecca L. Brown, Vanderbilt University
Steven Hetcher, Vanderbilt University
Suzanna Sherry, Vanderbilt University
Martha L. Judy, Vermont Law School
Laurie Kadoch, Vermont Law School
James C. May, Vermont Law School
Patrick Parenteau, Vermont Law School
Belinda Sifford, Vermont Law School
Joan Vogel, Vermont Law School
Maryann Zavez, Vermont Law School
Frank Rudy Cooper, Villanova University
Mark A. Hall, Wake Forest University
Michael Perry, Wake Forest University
Thomas E Roberts, Wake Forest University
Darryl K. Brown, Washington & Lee University
Louise Halper, Washington & Lee University
Jane H. Aiken, Washington University
William Burnham, Wayne State University
Zanita Fenton, Wayne State University
Robert Bastress, West Virginia University
Jim Friedberg, West Virginia University
Judith A.M. Scully, West Virginia University
Leslie V. Dery, Western State University
Alicia B. Kelly, Western State University
Glenn S. Koppel, Western State University
Kristian Miccio, Western State University
Michael Hunter Schwartz, Western State University
Greg Sergienko, Western State University
Edith R. Wakkentine, Western State University
Mary Ellen Gale, Whittier Law School
Kathy T. Graham, Willamette University
M. H. Sam Jacobson, Willamette University
Jennifer L. Wright, Willamette University
Donna M. Byrne, William Mitchell College
Peter Erlinder, William Mitchell College
Robert W. Gordon, Yale University
Stephen Wizner, Yale University
Toby Golick, Yeshiva University
Ellen Yaroshefsky, Yeshiva University