Since the days of John Marshall, the United States Supreme Court has played the paradoxical role of a good ol' boys club at the cutting edge of jurisprudence. Perhaps no other government institution this side of the President's Cabinet is so rife with patronage, yet historically justices have never been quick to kowtow to popular or elite opinion. From recognizing the Cherokee Nation as sovereign way back in 1832, to the deliberately conservative Burger Court's legitimizing of abortion in 1973, the Court has possessed an almost avant-garde morality, often to the chagrin of the rest of the government. That is, up until Bush v. Gore . Both the Court's initial request for clarification from the Florida Supreme Court and the final decision were handled extremely quickly.
Cases can take months just to have their application for certiorari denied.
Even if the Court chooses to hear a case, justices will normally deliberate and debate a decision for some time. It can be argued that no case has truly merited such alacrity before, but the impact of that case will be minimal compared to an even relatively obscure matter such as West Coast Hotel v. Parish . In that case, the nation's economy and, as a result, the Court's composition were at risk but it would have been seen as ludicrous to grant a writ, hear, and decide in a matter of days. Granted, the Court did not completely acquiesce to any one side. For one, it demurred at deciding the matter immediately.