Raising the Stakes That is what has now been thrown into question: the public belief that the court is "detached, dispassionate and trustworthy." The court's order stopping the recount of ballots in Florida � a 5-to-4 decision along ideological lines � looked to many Americans like a partisan intervention to save the day for Governor Bush. The Bush forces had worked for a month to prevent a manual recount of doubtful ballots, evidently in the belief that counting them would put Mr. Gore ahead. Now, just after recounts had begun, the five more conservative members of the Supreme Court stopped the process. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/11/opinion/11LEWI.html