Election night Nov. 7, 2000 was just the beginning of a 36 day showdown to decide the next president of the United States.
Florida's 25 electoral votes would determine the outcome. Vice President Al Gore nearly conceded to then Texas Gov. George Bush's narrow early lead, but instead prepared for battle.
WATCH BELOW: 'Probably one of the worst decisions the Supreme Court has made,' David Boies tells WPTV
Two days later, Gore's campaign called attorney David Boies.
"Asking whether I could come down to Florida for a couple of days and be available to argue if the case went to the Florida Supreme Court," Boies told WPTV's Meghan McRoberts. "Got a copy of the Florida election code, read it on the plane coming down, expecting to be down there for a couple of days, taking one extra shirt. And ended up being down there for almost 30 days."
"What were they asking you to argue for them?" McRoberts asked.
"They had asked for a recount and under Florida law, if an election was close enough, you had a right to a manual recount. And they were simply asking that the law be followed," Boies replied.
"So, when the state Supreme Court says the recount is good, go ahead with the recount. Did you think your fight was over at that point?" she asked.
"I thought it was over a couple of times," he replied.
However, not all counties finished their recounts by a Nov. 20 deadline.
That is when Secretary of State Katherine Harris declared Bush the winner, prompting Boies to sue to stop that certification. The Florida Supreme Court agreed with Boies, allowing under votes to still be counted—Those that didn't register a presidential vote.
"I think most people thought that the Supreme Court would never take the case," Boies told WPTV.
However, the Supreme Court did in what became Bush v. Gore by an appeal from the Bush campaign.
"Now, the United States Supreme Court, 5 to 4, ultimately held that the Florida law violated the federal constitution in probably one of the worst decisions the Supreme Court has made," Boies said.
To the Bush campaign, it was the right thing to do, but for Boies, a bit of a dark cloud.
"Well, for one thing, I lost," he said.
He added that the Supreme Court should have never taken the case.
"Justice Stevens said we may never know who the winner really was," Boies said.
