In this research project, you will trace the constitutional issues and caselaw related to two significant and fairly recent legal controversies.

The first portion of this research assignment relates to the Presidential election results between George Bush and Al Gore. Your task is to located two appellate cases, one state and one federal, in which the courts ruled on a core element in the contested results of that election: the handling of ballot counting irregularities by government officials. As with most legal research projects, there will be a number of cases related to ballot counting problems. however, the two cases you must find must include certain elements:

a) the case and controversy must be related to the Bush v. Gore Presidential election,

b) the case and controversy must have originated in Florida, and

c) the issue in the case must be the effect of ballot counting errors on the election results

1.) Gore v. Harris, 779 So. 2d 270, 2000 Fla. LEXIS 2569 (Supreme Court of Florida December 14, 2000, Decided ), available at https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=cases&id=urn%3acontentItem%3a4326-9WY0-0039-41TD-00000-00&context=1519360&identityprofileid=4VDQGQ54811.

The second research project relates to the regulation of same sex marriage in the State of Florida. You must find the legal source which purported to ban same-sex marriage in Florida. Then you must find the legal source which rendered such ban unconstitutional (hint: the legal source which invalidated Florida’s ban on same sex marriage was a case which invalidated same-sex marriage bans in all states.)

The legal source which purported to ban same-sex marriage in Florida:

§ 741.212. Marriages between persons of the same sex., Fla. Stat. § 741.212 (*** Current through the 2024 regular session.***), available at https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=statutes-legislation&id=urn%3acontentItem%3a5C24-MSC1-6SKW-D4TF-00000-00&context=1519360&identityprofileid=4VDQGQ54811.

§ 741.04. Issuance of marriage license., Fla. Stat. § 741.04 (*** Current through the 2024 regular session.***), available at https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=statutes-legislation&id=urn%3acontentItem%3a8RBV-HY32-D6RV-H4KV-00000-00&context=1519360&identityprofileid=4VDQGQ54811.

The legal source which rendered such ban unconstitutional (the legal source which invalidated Florida’s ban on same sex marriage was a case which invalidated same-sex marriage bans in all states):

United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 744, 133 S. Ct. 2675, 186 L. Ed. 2d 808, 2013 U.S. LEXIS 4921, 81 U.S.L.W. 4633, 118 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1417, 2013-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) P50,400, 111 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2013-2385, 57 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1577, 24 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 445, 2013 WL 3196928 (Supreme Court of the United States June 26, 2013, Decided), available at https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=cases&id=urn%3acontentItem%3a58RS-VT81-F04K-F07V-00000-00&context=1519360&identityprofileid=4VDQGQ54811.

For this assignment, you must provide the correct Bluebook citation for each source.