Thursday, February 25, 2010
Betting on Bush v. Gore?
From a new article in the ABA Journal, we learn one of our Supreme Court Justices had a "financial stake" in Bush v. Gore - - a stake the Justice quickly acted to obliterate:
Dear Obie and Betty Nan:
It now appears remotely possible that the Florida election case might come to our court. I therefore feel obliged to cancel all my election bets in any way dependent on the Florida vote. I hope you will agree to let me do this.
Sincerely,
As one of the recipients of the faxed letter explains:
More revelations by Bill Rehnquist's friend, Herman Obermayer ("Obie"), about the former Chief Justice make for an interesting read."In the beginning, it was simple. We each bet $1 on one or two close races, shook hands and paid off the next time we had dinner together. But in a few years, without deliberate planning, the scope of our betting expanded. The money involved remained insignificant. The wagering terms, however, became complicated. On some Election Days we each wagered a dollar on two dozen or more individual races. To add complexity and variety to our game, we changed the terms regularly. Sometimes we simply chose a winner. More often we wagered on spread, voter percentage or by what percentage each party would win in a legislature."
RR
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2010/02/betting-on-bush-v-gore.html