Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told the Chicago Tribune that perhaps she and her colleagues should have turned down the George W. Bush campaign's appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision to allow a recount request by the Al Gore campaign in the controversial presidential election, CBS News and the Associated Press reported.
Justice O'Connor tipped the scale in the high court's 5-4 decision that stopped the recount, sealing Bush's election.
Justice O'Connor, who retired in 2006, said, "it took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue. Maybe the court should have said, 'We're not going to take it. Obviously the court did reach a decision and thought it had to reach a decision. It turned out the election authorities in Florida hadn't done a real good job there and kind of messed it up. And probably the Supreme Court added to the problem at the end of the day."
The 'Bush v. Gore' case effective resolved the election dispute surrounding the 2000 election in favor of Bush, halting the recount, which for over 5 weeks after election day had been deemed "too close to call."
Ultimately the Supreme Court's decision helped Bush garner 271 electoral votes, enough to defeat Gore. The recount had been halted by the court.
A large number of black-majority precincts revealed to have three times as many rejected ballots as white precincts, reports said.
Justice O'Connor, who is 83, was named to the high court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. She had been an elected official and judge in Arizona, and ultimately becam the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
In August 2009, Justice O'Connor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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