14th Amendment: “No State shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The Equal Protection Clause requires that state and local governments treat all people equally. It doesn’t mean the government has to treat everyone identically, but it cannot discriminate unfairly or arbitrarily.

Importance:

• It's the basis for many major civil rights decisions.

• It has been used to strike down laws or practices that discriminate based on race, gender, citizenship status, and more.

• It ensures that people in similar situations are treated the same by the law, unless the government has a very good reason to treat them differently.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered the continuation of manual recounts. The Bush campaign appealed, arguing that different counties were using different standards for counting votes, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The case quickly moved to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Importantly, the Court stated the decision was limited to this case only and should not be used as a precedent in future election disputes.

Justice Stevens famously wrote:

“Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law.”