A funny thing happened after the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore, the controversial December 2000 case ending the presidential election litigation between Al Gore and George W. Bush: over the next decade, from 2001 to 2010, the number of election law cases decided by the Supreme Court with a written opinion fell to 30 cases, the lowest level since the 1950s. The drop occurred at the Supreme Court even as the amount of election litigation in the lower courts more than doubled compared to the period just before Bush v. Gore and even as the scholarly field of election law exploded.
This brief Article describes the drop in Supreme Court election law cases in the first decade of the twenty-first century, and offers at least a partial explanation as to the reasons for the drop. Although the general amount of election law litigation has risen dramatically since 2000, the number of cases in which parties sought Supreme Court review declined by more than 36 percent from the 1991-2000 decade compared to the 2001-2010 decade. The decline appears particularly steep after Justice O'Connor left the Court, replaced by Justice Alito.
"The Supreme Court's Shrinking Election Law Docket, 2001-2010: A Legacy of Bush v. Gore or Fear of the Roberts Court?"
Rick Hasen SSRN article:
