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US Supreme Court: Big 21st century rulings
The past 12 years have seen significant US high court decisions with wide-ranging effects on personal freedoms and national politics. Another key ruling is expected this summer on President Obama's health-care reform law. Here are some recent top rulings, all decided by 5-to-4 votes.
1. Bush v. Gore (2000)
This decision stopped the recount of votes in Florida in the contested 2000 US presidential election. A majority of justices found that continuing to recount votes in selected counties would violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s “equal protection clause” for voters in the rest of the state, so ordered the recount to stop. This resulted in the George W. Bush presidency.
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