Forum on Bush v. Gore set for March 31

A Law School public forum featuring several university professors will take a close look at the Supreme Court’s role in the election-deciding lawsuit Bush v. Gore.

The event is Saturday, March 31, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. in Godfrey & Kahn Hall, room 2260, Law School.

Law School professors Ann Althouse, Carin Clauss, David Schwartz, Cheryl Weston and Bill Whitford and political science/law professor Donald Downs will participate in a panel discussion, 10 a.m.-12:15 p.m., and will host an open discussion with students and other audience members, 1 to 4 p.m.

Questions to be addressed include: Would we have been better off if the Supreme Court had allowed more counting? Or were we headed into endless, unresolvable controversies that we are better off having been spared? Is it the Supreme Court’s role to rescue us from political disarray? Is the court capable of providing this service without itself falling prey to partisan preference?

The forum also will explore the hypothetical: Suppose it had been Gore v. Bush, not Bush v. Gore. Same facts, but now Gore holds the narrow lead, and Bush is keen on counting every vote, while Gore supporters express agitation about the potential for mischief and fraud. Would the Supreme Court justices have taken the positions they did? If you think not, what does that say about the place of the Court and the role of law in American society today?”