News Briefs
Dunwody Lecture: Dissecting Florida's Bush-Gore "extravaganza"
by Andre Salhab
Internationally known constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar, the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, spoke at the 28th Annual Florida Law Review Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law. Judges, former editors-in-chief of the Florida Law Review, and a room full of UF Law school faculty and students overfilled the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom on March 24 to hear him.
The topic of Amar’s lecture, titled “Bush, Gore, Florida, and the Constitution,” dealt with the problems behind what he referred to as “the Bush-Gore Florida extravaganza of 2000.” Since 2000, he said, scholars from across the spectrum have weighed in on the statutory and constitutional issues dealing with this case.
“At this late date, now that all the shouting here in Florida has subsided and so many scholarly assessments are already in print, some of you may quite reasonably be wondering whether there are any new things left to say about the Bush-Gore episode,” said Amar, who received the DeVane Medal, Yale’s highest award for teaching excellence in 2008. “I think there are.”
Throughout the lecture, Amar discussed different sections of the Bush-Gore debacle, including the courts and the Constitution, the role of the legislature, equal protection, voter intent, and reform. He used humor and fact to express to the audience his views on the case and explained who he felt was at fault.
“For decades if not centuries, American voters have been asked to put their “X” marks in boxes next to candidate names, and human umpires have had to judge if the “X” is close enough to the box to count,” Amar said. “On election day, different umpires officiating in different precincts have always called slightly different strike zones. If these judgments are made in good faith and within a small zone of close calls, why are they unconstitutional? If they are unconstitutional, then every election America has ever had is unconstitutional.”
A Web cast of the lecture is available for viewing on the Florida Law Review Web site.
