Revista da EMERJ - V. 20 - N. 2 - Maio/Agosto - 2018

49  R. EMERJ, Rio de Janeiro, v. 20, n. 2, p. 8 - 53, Maio/Agosto 2018  roughly half will condemn Bush . 218 Yet, while nearly all Democrats criticize Bush , it is not clear how intense their opposition is. Surely most Americans are more energized by presidential elections than by flag burning. On the other hand, relatively few Gore supporters seem to have manifested an intensity of commitment for their can- didate approaching that displayed by right-to-lifers in opposition to Roe v. Wade . Indeed, a principal reason that Gore found himself in the Florida predicament that he did–recall that all the political scien- tists’ models predicted a relatively comfortable victory for him 219 –was the relative lack of enthusiasm evinced by many Democrats for their party’s candidate. 220 Thus, one might surmise that many Democrats’ opposition to Bush v. Gore will be lukewarm at best. My guess, thou- gh, is that this supposition is mistaken. The commitment of many Democrats to contesting the Florida election results was less a pro- duct of their enthusiasm for their candidate than a reaction against what they regarded as the egregious misbehavior of Republicans du- ring the election controversy. 221 Once the Supreme Court defied the pundits’ predictions by involving itself in the election controversy, 222 Democratic resentment toward Republican politicians and Bush cam- paign operatives easily was transferred to a conservative Supreme Court majority that appeared bent on doing the G.O.P.’s bidding. My hunch is that even lukewarm Gore supporters were outraged by the result in Bush v. Gore . Moreover, Bush proved to be one of the most 218 See Kaiser, supra note __ (quoting legal historian Lawrence Friedman to the effect that “[t]he country is split 50-50 politically, and they’re probably split 50-50 on this [ Bush v. Gore ]”); ibid. (quoting legal historian Howard Gillman to the effect that “[w]hat the court did was align itself with half the country against the other half ”). 219 See Robert G. Kaiser, “Academics Say It’s Elementary,” Washington Post , Aug. 31, 2000, p.A12 (noting that six of seven political scientists predicted Gore to win percentages ranging from 52.4% to 55.4% of the vote for the two major parties, and the seventh predicted him to win 60.3%). I guess the political scientists have some remodeling to do before the next election. 220 See, e.g., Terry M. Neal, “Some Black Voters View Gore as the Lesser of Two Evils,” Washington Post , Oct. 29, 2000, A4 (noting doubts as to “whether Gore has generated the enthusiasm he needs among the Democrats’ most loyal con- stituency [African-Americans]”). 221 See, e.g., Naftali Bendavid & Michael Tackett, “Democratic Leaders Certify their Support for Gore,” Chicago Tribune , Nov. 28, 2000, p. 1 (noting Democratic anger over the tactics of Republicans in Florida and quoting one Democratic con- gressman observing that “[t]he actions of some of our more Republican partisans over the past few days have stiffened and strengthened the resolve of the Democrats”). 222 See supra note __; Larry Lipman & Kathy Pruitt, “U.S. Supreme Court,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution , Nov. 25, 2000, 7A (noting that “[t]he Supreme Court’s decision to hear Bush’s appeal came as a surprise”); Joan Biskupic, “Courts can’t Unravel all Election Snags,” USA Today , Nov. 17, 2000, 1A (predicting that “the black-robed nine in Washington will beg off ”); David G. Savage & Henry Weinstein, “American Waits,” Los Angeles Times , Nov. 23, 2000, A24 (“Most legal experts agreed that there were long odds against Bush’s actually winning in the Supreme Court . . . .”). But see Einer Elhauge, “Bush v. Florida,” New York Times , Nov. 20, 2000, A27 (stating that if the Florida Supreme Court orders a manual recount, “no one should be surprised if the U.S. Supreme Court steps in”).