Another factoid which has been drilled in the American psyche. The 5-4 ruling was to immediately stop the umpteenth post-election vote manufacturing recount. Two of the justices thought a few extra days (at most) could possibly be allowed.
The real vote in Bush v. Gore was 7-2 against counting some votes (winos, hanging chads, duplicates, overvotes and undervotes) more than others (military, people who understood how to mark a ballot). The only two in this key vote were the two Clinton appointees.
7-2 was the key vote in the ruling. 5-4 was only about the timing.
You are exactly correct .. and that's a great point.
The court ruling was 7-2 to stop the ILLEGAL COUNTING which the FL Supreme Court allowed .. and which the USSC had already told the FL court to fix .. and they didn't .. they just continued counting.
James Baker was very instrumental in getting this victory for Bush .. but aside from that I don't have any confidence in his other abilities.