Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination

Robert Heron Bork (born birth date and age|1927|3|1) is a conservative American legal scholar who advocates the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1987, he was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan, but the Senate rejected his nomination.

Nomination

Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell was a moderate, and even before his expected retirement on June 27, 1987, Senate Democrats had asked liberal leaders to form "a solid phalanx" to oppose whoever President Ronald Reagan nominated to replace him, assuming it would tilt the court rightward; Democrats warned Reagan there would be a fight.cite web
title=The Original Borking
author=Manuel Miranda
publisher="Wall Street Journal"
date=2005-08-24
accessdate=2007-08-10
url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/nextjustice/?id=110007149] Reagan nominated Bork for the seat on July 1, 1987.

Within 45 minutes of Bork's nomination to the Court, Ted Kennedy (D-MA) took to the Senate floor with a strong condemnation of Bork in a nationally televised speech, declaring, "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens." [cite news |title= WASHINGTON; Kennedy And Bork |accessdate=2008-04-28 |url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DF1E3EF936A35754C0A961948260 |author=Reston, James |date=July 5, 1987 |work=The New York Times] TV ads narrated by Gregory Peck attacked Bork as an extremist. Kennedy's speech successfully fueled widespread public skepticism of Bork's nomination. The rapid response of Kennedy's "Robert Bork's America" speech stunned the Reagan White House; though conservatives considered Kennedy's accusations slanderous, the attacks went unanswered for two and a half months.cite web
title=Court nominees will trigger rapid response
publisher="Christian Science Monitor"
date=2005-07-07
accessdate=2007-08-10
url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0707/p02s01-uspo.html
author=Gail Russell Chaddock]

A hotly contested United States Senate debate over Bork's nomination ensued, partly fueled by strong opposition by civil and women's rights groups concerned with what they claimed was Bork's desire to roll back civil rights decisions of the Warren and Burger courts. Bork is one of only three Supreme Court nominees to ever be opposed by the ACLU. [cite web |url=http://www.aclu.org/scotus/alito/ |title=ACLU Opposes Nomination of Judge Alito |accessdate=2007-08-17 |work=American Civil Liberties Union] Bork was also criticized for being an "advocate of disproportionate powers for the executive branch of Government, almost executive supremacy," [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DE163FF935A15754C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print New Views Emerge of Bork's Role in Watergate Dismissals] , "The New York Times".] as demonstrated by his role in the Saturday Night Massacre.

During debate over his nomination, Bork's video rental history was leaked to the press, which led to the enactment of the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act. His video rental history was unremarkable, and included such harmless titles as "A Day at the Races", "Ruthless People" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much". The list of rentals was originally printed by Washington D.C.'s "City Paper". [cite web |url=http://www.theamericanporch.com/bork2.htm |title=The Bork Tapes Saga |accessdate=2007-08-17 |work=The American Porch]

To pro-choice legal groups, Bork's originalist views and his belief that the Constitution does not contain a general "right to privacy" were viewed as a clear signal that, should he become a Justice on the Supreme Court, he would vote to reverse the Court's 1973 decision in "Roe v. Wade". Accordingly, a large number of left-wing groups mobilized to press for Bork's rejection, and the resulting 1987 Senate confirmation hearings became an intensely partisan battle. Bork was faulted for his bluntness before the committee, including his criticism of the reasoning underlying "Roe v. Wade". On October 23, 1987, the Senate rejected Bork's confirmation, with 42 Senators voting in favor and 58 voting against. Senators David Boren (D-OK) and Ernest Hollings (D-SC) voted in favor, with Senators John Chafee (R-RI), Bob Packwood (R-OR), Richard Shelby (D-AL), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Robert Stafford (R-VT), John Warner (R-VA) and Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (R-CT) all voting nay. The vacant seat on the court to which Bork was nominated eventually went to Judge Anthony Kennedy.

The history of Bork's disputed nomination is still a lightning rod in the contentious debate over the limits of the "Advice and Consent of the Senate" that Article Two of the United States Constitution requires for judicial nominees of the President.

Bork, unhappy with his treatment in the nomination process, resigned his appellate-court judgeship in 1988.

"Bork" as verb

William Safire of "The New York Times" attributes "possibly" the first use of 'Bork' as a verb to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of August 20th, 1987. Safire defines "to bork" by reference "to the way Democrats savaged Ronald Reagan's nominee, the Appeals Court judge Robert H. Bork, the year before." [WILLIAM SAFIRE (2001, May 27). ON LANGUAGE :judge fights 'borking' needed to ston court packing'? THE END OF MINORITY. New York Times (1857-Current file),p. SM12. Retrieved June 17, 2008, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2004) database. (Document ID: 383739671).] This definition stems from the history of the fight over Bork's nomination. Bork was widely lauded for his competence, but reviled for his political philosophy. In March 2002, the word was added to the "Oxford English Dictionary" under "Bork"; its definition extends beyond judicial nominees, stating that people who Bork others "usually [do so] with the aim of preventing [a person's] appointment to public office."

Perhaps the best known use of the verb "to bork" occurred in July 1991 at a conference of the National Organization for Women in New York City. Feminist Florynce Kennedy addressed the conference on the importance of defeating the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. She said, "We're going to "bork" him. We're going to kill him politically. . . . This little creep, where did he come from?" [cite web |url=http://opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=85000412 |title=The Borking Begins |accessdate=2007-08-17 |work=The Wall Street Journal] Thomas was subsequently confirmed after one of the most divisive confirmation fights in Supreme Court history.

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