Gale Encyclopedia of American Law Volume 3 P44 fully illuminates today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, important documents and more. Legal issues are fully discussed in easy-to-understand language, including such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, physician-assisted suicide and thousands more. | 418 DEMOCRATIC PARTY allowing the government to be shut down for a long period rather than give in to Republican spending cuts. The impeachment trial of Clinton in 1999 furthered the partisan divide in the country. Led by a Republican Congress the impeachment process was backed by a majority of Republicans and opposed by a majority of Democrats. Despite the embarrassment to Clinton the legal proceedings did not seem to hurt the Democrats in the same way Watergate hurt the Republicans. The Democrats actually picked up seats in the House and the Senate in both the 1998 and 2000 elections. Just how evenly the country was split between the Republicans and Democrats was illustrated by the 2000 election. Democratic presidential candidate al gore won the popular vote by over 500 000 votes however the Electoral College was another story. A disputed ballot count in Florida kept the election from being officially decided for more than a month after election day. When it was over george w. bush had become president of the united states by a mere 537 votes according to the Florida statewide official tally. Bush beat Al Gore in the Electoral College 271 to 266 one of the closest results in . history. ironically considering that they won the popular vote for president and picked up seats in both the House and senate the 2000 election paradoxically left the Democrats in their weakest position since the Eisenhower administration. in addition to the presidency the Republicans controlled the House and the senate by slim majorities. in the senate that majority consisted of one seat. However the decision by senator Jim Jeffords R-Vt. to become an independent in 2001 gave the senate majority to the Democrats for the first time since 1994. Using their majority the Democrats were able to frustrate President Bush on some of his proposed policies though they were too weak to pass legislation on their own. The Republicans strengthened their position after the 2002 election regaining .
