Opposing Bush v. Gore Attorneys Say Biden Clearly Won the Election, 'No Resemblance' to 2000 Dispute

The lawyers who argued in favor of opposing clients in the infamous 2000 Bush v. Gore case before the Supreme Court—which played a major role in deciding the election for former President George W. Bush—now agree that President-elect Joe Biden clearly won the presidential election, and that President Donald Trump does not have a valid argument to overturn the results.

In the 2000 presidential election, Bush, a Republican, was ultimately declared the winner over former Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat, after the race came down to about 500 votes in Florida. Although Gore wanted to push forward with recounts, the Supreme Court, which was controlled by conservative justices, ruled that vote counting standards in Florida were not consistent and halted a recount ordered by Florida's Supreme Court.

Many supporters of Trump have attempted to suggest the situation is similar in this election, but the lawyers explained that reality is quite different.

"Yet, over the past week, we have heard repeated assertions that the outcome of this election is somehow in doubt, as it was in 2000," attorneys David Boies and Theodore B. Olson wrote in an opinion article for The Washington Post on Saturday. "It is not. Biden will be president."

The lawyers pointed out that they continue to disagree over many areas of policy, but that the results of the 2020 election are not in dispute.

"The presidential-election controversies currently playing out in various parts of the country are not repeats of Bush v. Gore," they wrote. "That case involved the agonizingly close election in a single state, Florida, the outcome of which was to be decisive in the election for president that year. A mere 500 or so votes separated candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore."

The lawyers explained that the margins in the six states where Trump's campaign continues to dispute the results "range from 10,000 votes in Arizona to more than 145,000 votes in Michigan. Evidence of systemic or widespread fraud or miscounting in those states has simply not been found, and recounts rarely, if ever, change the outcome of elections by more than a few hundred votes."

"Past losers of presidential elections, however stinging their defeats, have ultimately decided to make peace with the opposing camp. Former vice president Gore did so, admirably, when Bush v. Gore was resolved. The sooner that Trump and his supporters accept the election result, the better it will be for the nation," Boies and Olson concluded.

Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign for comment, but did not immediately received a response.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were declared the projected winners of the presidential election on November 7, after Fox News, the Associated Press and other television networks called Pennsylvania and Nevada for Biden. This pushed the Democratic ticket over the 270 threshold required for victory in the Electoral College.

But Trump has refused to concede, baselessly claiming—without providing evidence—that the election was decided through widespread voter fraud.

"He [Biden] won because the Election was Rigged," Trump tweeted on Sunday morning. Some on social media quickly suggested that this amounted to a tacit concession, even if the president continued to push unfounded claims that the results were "rigged."

In a later tweet, the president clarified: "He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!"

Biden has described Trump's refusal to concede as "an embarrassment."