2000 Election Reading #2

Facts:
1.  Court gave a prompt anc conclusive ending to the chaotic election
2.  On November 13th Katherine Harris announced that the statutory deadline of November 14th was final
3.  Bush raised three federal challenges to the Florida Supreme Court's decision
4.  Florida Supreme Court with a vote of 4 to 3 said that there was a manual hand count required by state law.
5.  Equal protection played a big part in the court's decisions
6.  Justices had to be careful they were not considering anything else, but the law whn making their decision
7.  Bush won with a vote of 5 to 4
8.  Court's opinion had no basis in precedent or history

Questions:
1.  How will the courts deal with this if the problem ever arises again?
2.  Should the decision have gone to Congress?
3.  Should the recount of continued?
4.  Would the Republicans be worried of how it would look if conservative judges ruled in Bush's favor?
5.  Will this case set a clear precedent for any future cases?