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Bush v. Gore doubts voiced by Justice O'Connor for first time

Bush v. Gore doubts: Former Justice O'Connor tells the Chicago Tribune editorial board that perhaps she and her colleagues should have turned down the Bush campaign's appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision

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Matt Rourke/AP/File
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor holds a copy of the Constitution before a recitation of preamble, at the National Constitution Center, in 2011, in Philadelphia.
  • By Associated Press

| WASHINGTON

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is suggesting for the first time that the court should have stayed out of the 2000 presidential election dispute between George W. Bush and AlGore.

The 83-year-old O'Connor tells the Chicago Tribune editorial board that perhaps she and her colleagues should have turned down the Bush campaign's appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision to allow a recount requested by the Gore campaign.

O'Connor was in the majority in the high court's 5-4 decision that stopped the recount and sealed Bush'selection. She has long lamented the controversy over the decision that she said gave the court a "less-than-perfect reputation."

But in the past, O'Connor has said the court had no choice but to take on the case. She retired in 2006.

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