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How did the Bush v. Gore dissenters use federalism in their arguments?

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U.S. presidential election of 2000 — Bush v. Gore A Florida judge examining a challenged vote at an operations center in Plantation, Florida, during a recount of the state's U.S. presidential election ballots, 2000.

In Bush v. Gore, the dissenting justices utilized principles of federalism to argue that the U.S. Supreme Court should have deferred to the Florida Supreme Court regarding the interpretation of its own state laws.

Justice John Paul Stevens explicitly argued that the majority’s reversal of the Florida court’s recount order contradicted established traditions of federalism and the judiciary's historical deference to state courts on matters of state law interpretation. Similarly, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg contended that the majority had discarded the Court’s former commitment to federalism by intervening in a process that was properly within the purview of the state’s judicial system.

The dissenters maintained that the state court was in the best position to determine how to handle election disputes and "appropriate" relief under Florida law. By halting the recount, the dissenters argued, the U.S. Supreme Court improperly intruded upon state authority and created a remedy that was disproportionate to the concerns raised, ultimately harming the very fairness interests the majority claimed to protect.12