Can the Supreme Court's 2000 recount ruling stop a recount in a House race?

Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, was decided December 12, 2000. The case held that a manual recount without uniform statewide standards violated the Equal Protection Clause, and the Court reversed the Florida Supreme Court's recount order. The per curiam stated that "our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities." Seven Justices agreed there were constitutional problems with the recount, while five Justices set the remedy by ending it.

The Chief Justice's concurrence in Bush v. Gore rested on Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, which governs how presidential electors are appointed. House elections are governed instead by Article I, Section 4. The decision did not establish federal authority over state recount procedures generally.

In Roudebush v. Hartke, 405 U.S. 15 (1972), the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana recount in a U.S. Senate race as a valid exercise of the state's Article I, Section 4 power. The Court held that a recount does not prevent the chamber from independently evaluating the election any more than the initial count does.