Bush or Gore may be right about the merits of various decisions in this chain of events. But it's meaningless and specious for either side to frame its position as one of judicial restraint. But our folks are ready to go. We believe that the right way for this to have been resolved was to have the votes counted in the political electoral process. Each side pretends that some larger principle explains why it pleads for intervention in some cases and for restraint in others.
Conservatives speak of accountability.
It is deference to the political branches of government. Liberals, on the other hand, speak of fairness. Every game needs a referee. Restraining federal courts from second-guessing state courts as liberals righteously acknowledge in every case other than Bush v. Gore is as likely to jeopardize fairness as to protect it. Only one principle explains the behavior of each party at every stage of the recount war.