"The court's decision to halt the recount of Florida's disputed election results, thus giving Bush the state's electoral votes, has been heavily criticized as an example of the court overstepping its bounds and, worse, being driven by politics.
Rather than let the recount take place and leave state officials and possibly Congress to determine the outcome of the election, the court's five conservative justices decided to intervene."
No, no, no, the Supreme Court did not decide to intervene. Two cases were brought before them and they decided to hear those cases.
"They eventually overturned a ruling of the Florida Supreme Court"
The ruling by the Florida Supreme Court changed Florida election law. This decision by the FSC was not based on any case. It was an attempt by the Florida judges to create or change law rather than interpret it. This is what we call an activist court. The action was ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.
"...and halted the recount of the state's disputed election results 36 days after the voting."
No, no, no. The US Supreme Court did not say cease and desist to all counting. The court ruled, in essence, count away but count the entire state, not just a tiny selected pocket of it. As a result, Al Gore collected his marbles (some of them anyway) and went home.
Thus began six years of Bush Bashing, bitterness on the part of the Democratic Party, and partisan hatred and hysteria that continues to damage our nation to this day.
At least that's how I remember it. Whoever wrote that AP article should give up journalism and try another career. Burger King is always hiring.
No problem with your memory, freelancer. That's exactly how it went down.
They also seem to gloss over the decisions by the lower courts against AlGore. It was the Florida Supreme Court that went off into the weeds.
The author of the story is so backward, that he would probably flame broil the lettuce and throw the burger on the sandwich raw.