On November 22, 2000, a phalanx of chino-clad Republican operatives descended on Florida’s Miami-Dade County polling headquarters, where local officials were scrambling to complete a manual recount of ballots cast in the presidential contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Swarming the lobby of the government high rise, the GOP protesters chanted and banged on the glass wall as local officials inside attempted to review ballots. Faced with an increasingly dangerous situation, the county canvassing board abandoned its recount, which had seemed poised to deliver a substantial number of votes for Gore.

The members of what was subsequently dubbed the “Brooks Brothers riot” provided the extralegal support for the challenge being waged in the courts for Bush by the likes of Ted Cruz, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Brought to the cusp of victory by the wrongful disenfranchisement of black Floridians, the Bush campaign’s coordinated attacks against the recount in the courts and in the streets cemented Bush’s dubious victory.

The lesson Republicans drew from 2000 was that suppression works. “It worked then, and they are thinking it might work well again,” Brad Blakeman, the Bush campaign operative who took credit for the “Brooks Brothers riot” explained to the Miami Herald in 2018.