The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Bush v. Gore on December 12, 2000, halting the Florida recount and effectively awarding the state's 25 electoral votes to George W. Bush.
Bush led Gore in Florida by 537 votes out of roughly 6 million cast after the initial machine recount.
Seven justices found equal protection problems with Florida's varying recount standards across counties, but the Court split 5-4 on the remedy of ending the recount.
The per curiam opinion stated its ruling was 'limited to the present circumstances,' a line critics and supporters have debated for two decades.
A subsequent media consortium review by the National Opinion Research Center in 2001 found Bush would have won under most, though not all, recount scenarios that had been proposed.