Associated Press
Robert Bork, a former solicitor general and failed U.S. Supreme Court nominee, died today at age 85. He leaves behind an important political legacy, which helped make him a legal icon for many on the far-right.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the high court, which in turn led to one of the fiercest nominating fights in American history. Indeed, less than an hour after Bork was introduced as Reagan's choice, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) delivered a famous condemnation on the Senate floor: "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, school children could not be taught about evolution, writers and artist could be censured at the whim of government."
The indictment wasn't especially hyperbolic. Bork had, after all, endorsed Jim Crow-era poll taxes, condemned portions of the Civil Rights Act banning discrimination in public accommodations, and argued against extending the equal protection of the 14th Amendment to women, among other things.
The nominating process that followed marked an important shift in American politics -- senators decided it wasn't enough to merely consider a Supreme Court nominee's qualifications; they also had to consider whether he or she was ideologically and temperamentally suited for the bench. In Bork's case, it was a test he failed, and 58 senators, including six Republicans, voted to reject his nomination.
For the left, the outcome is still remembered a victory for civil rights and modernity. For the right, it was the first modern example of mean liberals blocking a qualified jurist from reaching the high court. (In some conservative circles, "Bork" is occasionally used as a verb.)
Let's also not forget his role in Watergate. In 1973, when President Richard Nixon's ordered the Justice Department to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor investigating the scandal, Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus refused and resigned. Bork was #3 at Justice, and he carried out the order, in what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."
More recently, Bork was a top advisor to the Romney/Ryan campaign.
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"Some people create joy wherever they go. Some whenever they go." -- Oscar Wilde
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.— - Winston
Churchill
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great
pleasure" - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of
it."- Mark Twain
What a brilliant way to not speak ill of the dead ...
And ... here, here
Sometime "Bork" is used as an adjective also...
See, today really is going really, really well!
I realize it's in poor taste to speak ill of the dead, but the reality is that this country will be better off without Bork.
And without everything he stood for.
I don't wish to speak ill of the dead...so I will refrain from saying anything at all
I won't either even though he was evil wicked and vile man.
"It's wrong to speak ill of the dead!"
"OK, if you say so. Gosh, Stalin was really efficient, wasn't he?"
"For the right, it was the first modern example of mean liberals blocking a qualified jurist from reaching the high court."
Hogwash. They often claim that, but any rational person knows that the reason the right wanted Bork on the Supreme Court was purely ideological, qualifications be damned.
I was in the AF when the Nixon investigation was going on. Actually met Sam Ervin who chaired the Senate committee on Nixon.
So Nixon knows that Archibald Cox is getting to real violations of the Constitution that will cause him to be impeached. What to do? EASY solution. Fire the Special Prosecutor Cox.
Since the Attorney General is the one who appoints a special prosecutor, he's the one who has to fire him. Nixon orders his acting Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Elliot Richardson refuses and resigns on the spot. Nixon then makes the Deputy AG, the AG and orders him to fire Cox. Likewise William Ruckelshouse, refuses and resigns on the spot, saying that the firing was fundamentally wrong. That makes Bork the acting Attorney General. Bork has no problems with his "ethics" and fires Cox on the spot.
Reagan then has the gall to nominate Bork to the Supreme Court.
"mean liberals" blocking a qualified jurist from reaching the high court?
Not even close to the truth. Bork had proven that he had ZERO ethics.
I will always remember William Ruckelshouse with great pride for his statement that "anyone entering public service must always maintain the option of saying 'no'."
Bork was not half as frightening as the legions pushing him forward. (And, many of them are still with us, still pushing.)
After his loss ---Bork's behavior vindicated the Senate's decision. he went off the deep right end.
What is it about these old white republicans ... cheney, mccain, this putz ... they can't take no for an answer ...
mmm .... akin, mourdock ...
Good riddance.
Good riddance to a bad person.
Can you imagine what kind of a mess this country would be if he had actually been seated on the court?
Talk like that will give me nightmares!
I would like to see the look on his face when St. Peter sends him to the door on the right.
May he rest in peace.
I seems true...Only the good die young.
Wasn't he the model for the perfect Tea Party candidates policies?
Yes Marty it's bad enough with Scalia, Thomas and Alito.
The Devils job is now in peril!
Only until the current crop of Tea Potty start nodding off into the Great Sleep.
It gives death to tyrants real meaning!
Consider the fact that we got Scalia after Bork was rejected.
You know things need improving when Robert Bork looks moderate when compared to today's long-fanged and vicious conservatives.
Somewhere, the Swedish Chef is inconsolable.
I totally got that one!
The framers of the constitution never imagined what modern medicine would achieve. It is difficult to argue that any of the founding fathers had the intention that life terms meant a quarter century allocation of tremendous power to a single individual in one of the three branches of government.
Bork's longevity points to a significant threat of political tyranny that was never intended by the founders.
Especially after recent rulings, it is recognized now how the court functions more as a partisan rather than nonpartisan entity. For this reason there are many advocates both on the left and the right that justices be subject to term limits.
Interestingly, there are two mechanisms for this which do not require constitutional amendment. Say the limit is 15 years.
(Excellent essay by Constitutional Yale scholar Akhil Amar here).
"Honor-bound" is something people like the dearly departed J. Bork and his friends like Scalia (that man lives to piss me off) do not understand; e.g. Scalia's refusal to recuse himself from the Cheney energy "advisor" case (or now the marriage equality cases) and Thomas' refusal to do same from the ACA case.
The Justices will not even allow themselves to be vound by the Code of Ethics that binds every other federal judge.
I was taught that if you cannot say anything good about the deceased, then hold your tongue.
However, Bork warrants an exception. Bork was a blithering idiot of a radical conservative who believed that whatever he believed was sufficient 'legal justification' for any court ruling that he would have participated in. He would have made Scalia look like a moderate. Good riddance to bad, bad repuknican rubbish.
As I recall it, it wasn't mean liberals who put the final nail in his coffin, it was his observation that the Bill of Rights contained no guarantee of the right of privacy. At which point even conservatives were hard pressed to endorse his bid.
He would fit right in then...well could have.
I am glad that no one has asked me to shed any tears; today, I'm all cried out so fortunately have none left.
Okay, I won't speak ill of the dead. But, when he was alive, he was a despicable piece of sh#$.
Your recollection of Robert Bork was a trip down that lane where
shadows collect neath bushes and rocks, competing with spiders and roly-polys
for the right to digest wayfarers.
Bork was a rock-dweller. I was in the Navy during much of Watergate and
missed a great deal. Your reminder that it was Bork who executed the Saturday
Night Massacre, just following orders, brought back the terrible memory that had
slipped my mind. But I remember distinctly driving past Rocky Flats on our way
home in the 80s, listening to All Things Considered while Reagan’s Bork sat in examination for the Supreme Court. What we got was bad enough: Thomas, and Scalia. But with Bork all kinds of horrors would have been unleashed.
I do remember the talk of his ruling that a company had the right to order
women to be sterilized or fired. If personhood ever comes to be we’ll revisit
that ruling.
Thankfully he disappeared. Then after advising Romney, he died. None too
soon.
Take a grateful breath.