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Roger Kimball

Robert Bork, RIP

Judge Robert H. Bork, one of the the greatest jurists this country has ever produced, died early this morning from heart complications in a Virginia hospital near his home. He was 84…

The vicious campaign waged against Judge Bork set a new low—possibly never exceeded—in the exhibition of unbridled leftist venom, indeed hate. Reporters combed through the Borks trash hoping to find comprising tidbits; they inspected his movie rentals, and were disgusted to find the films of John Wayne liberally represented. So hysterical was the campaign against Judge Bork that a new transitive verb entered our political vocabulary: “To Bork,” scruple at nothing in order to discredit and defeat a political figure. Monsieur Guillotine gave his name to that means of execution; “progressives,” those leftists haters of America who have so disfigured our national life since the 1960s, gave us the this new form of character assassination. The so-called “Lion of the Senate,” Ted Kennedy, surely one of the most despicable men ever to hold high public office in the United States (yes, that’s saying something), stood on the Senate floor and emitted a serious of calumnious lies designed not simply to prevent Judge Bork from being appointed to the Supreme Court but to soil his character irretrievably.

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Comment pages: 1 2

Wow, that came out of the blue.

cozmo on December 19, 2012 at 9:04 AM

May he rest eternally in the house of the Lord.

tom daschle concerned on December 19, 2012 at 9:04 AM

Rest in peace, sir. You were a true patriot who remained one despite all the vitriol directed at you.

NavyMustang on December 19, 2012 at 9:06 AM

The shame done onto this man is almost without precedent.

jake-the-goose on December 19, 2012 at 9:06 AM

Aw, that’s terrible.

Rest in peace, good sir. I know that your reward will come in heaven.

KingGold on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

The opposition to Bork was about his support of southern states right to use the poll tax. Nothing less, nothing more.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

A truly great and brilliant man. Liberals knew what they were doing when they crucified him.

logis on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

The vicious campaign waged against Judge Bork set a new low—possibly never exceeded—in the exhibition of unbridled leftist venom, indeed hate.

The Left hates everything good.

Axion on December 19, 2012 at 9:12 AM

The opposition to Bork Obama was is about his support of southern states right to use the poll tax unbridled government power. Nothing less, nothing more.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

Works both ways.

Bitter Clinger on December 19, 2012 at 9:14 AM

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

Do the world a favor and just abort yourself straight to hell reprobate.

tom daschle concerned on December 19, 2012 at 9:15 AM

The opposition to Bork was about his support of southern states right to use the poll tax. Nothing less, nothing more.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

Yep, when I wanna know what somebody thinks of states rights I also search his garbage and go through his movie rentals.

Valkyriepundit on December 19, 2012 at 9:16 AM

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

I admire your stupidity. I really do. It takes chutzpah to this flagrant about one’s own ignorance.

HerneTheHunter on December 19, 2012 at 9:18 AM

The opposition to Bork was about his support of southern states right to use the poll tax. Nothing less, nothing more.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

From the mouth of the dead drunk himself:

“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.”

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/05/opinion/washington-kennedy-and-bork.html

You can try to rewrite history. But many people know how to find out the truth.

Mitoch55 on December 19, 2012 at 9:19 AM

Can we trollcott here, please?

RIP Judge Bork. See you on the other side someday.

22044 on December 19, 2012 at 9:20 AM

Works both ways.

Bitter Clinger on December 19, 2012 at 9:14 AM

The key difference is that conservatives argued *for* unbridled executive power under the previous Administration. The phrase “executive privilege” was introduced into the mainstream political lexicon by W. I don’t think Ted Kennedy and other progressives railing against Bork’s disagreement with anti-segregationist rulings is anywhere near that hypocritical.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:20 AM

Oh dear this is sad news.

RIP Mr.Bork.
L

letget on December 19, 2012 at 9:20 AM

The phrase “executive privilege” was introduced into the mainstream political lexicon by W. I don’t think Ted Kennedy and other progressives railing against Bork’s disagreement with anti-segregationist rulings is anywhere near that hypocritical.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:20 AM

Especially letting women learn to breathe underwater.

tom daschle concerned on December 19, 2012 at 9:22 AM

You can try to rewrite history. But many people know how to find out the truth.

Mitoch55 on December 19, 2012 at 9:19 AM

What is inaccurate about Kennedy’s words there? Bork was anti-Roe v. Wade, Bork was anti-Warren Court rulings against Jim Crow. I’m not familiar with his take on Engel v. Vitale, but I suspect he was against it. Is your problem merely with the uber honest tone of the editorial?

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:22 AM

Sympathy to his friends and family.

Given Bork’s contempt for the 1st and 2nd amendments, however, I am glad he never got on the Supreme Court.

AngusMc on December 19, 2012 at 9:23 AM

The opposition to Bork was about his support of southern states right to use the poll tax. Nothing less, nothing more.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

Ted Kennedy killed a woman.

Good Lt on December 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM

I’m all for blacks choking to death on imaginary pubes on coke cans. starting with lfod

tom daschle concerned on December 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM

tom daschle concerned on December 19, 2012 at 9:22 AM

No, Sir. He went to go get help.

HerneTheHunter on December 19, 2012 at 9:26 AM

The phrase “executive privilege” was introduced into the mainstream political lexicon by W.

Incorrect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege

How old are you?

Good Lt on December 19, 2012 at 9:27 AM

Had a chance to sit next to him on an airplane once. True gentleman. We chatted a little, with him taking the lead since I respected his privacy. Very warm and personable. RIP Judge.

Dingbat63 on December 19, 2012 at 9:28 AM

The opposition to Bork was about his support of southern states right to use the poll tax. Nothing less, nothing more.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

For the most part, the Conservatives here pay respects to most all famous figures who pass on, right and left. There are expections and they get negative comments from fellow Conservatives.

You had this one chance to demonstrate a bit of class and failed, as you always do, miserably.

RIP Your Honor.

hawkdriver on December 19, 2012 at 9:29 AM

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:20 AM

I don’t think………..

Finally, the most truthful statement you have ever uttered, and the first one I’ve ever agreed with.

waterytart on December 19, 2012 at 9:31 AM

I’m sorry to hear this news. My sympathies to the Bork family.

yongoro on December 19, 2012 at 9:34 AM

Robert Bork should have been left here for a while longer, while “libfreeordie” should have been taken to Hell and freeze in loneliness of being a *bleep*

UODuckMan on December 19, 2012 at 9:35 AM

Don’t feed the idiot trolls.

Ward Cleaver on December 19, 2012 at 9:35 AM

No, Sir. He went to go get help sober.

HerneTheHunter on December 19, 2012 at 9:26 AM

Oh, and you were so close.

Lost in Jersey on December 19, 2012 at 9:36 AM

RIP a true jurist.

IR-MN on December 19, 2012 at 9:37 AM

RIP Judge Bork,

FOAD libfreeordie

Sekhmet on December 19, 2012 at 9:39 AM

For the most part, the Conservatives here pay respects to most all famous figures who pass on, right and left. There are expections and they get negative comments from fellow Conservatives.

You had this one chance to demonstrate a bit of class and failed, as you always do, miserably.

RIP Your Honor.

hawkdriver on December 19, 2012 at 9:29 AM

Indeed.
Good reminder to not look at comments on HP or other liberal sites today, unless you want to get slimed.

22044 on December 19, 2012 at 9:41 AM

What is inaccurate about Kennedy’s words there? Bork was anti-Roe v. Wade, Bork was anti-Warren Court rulings against Jim Crow. I’m not familiar with his take on Engel v. Vitale, but I suspect he was against it. Is your problem merely with the uber honest tone of the editorial?

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:22 AM

Let’s take a closer look at Kennedy’s words:

“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions

Not even close. Bork wanted to put the issue back to the States, where it belongs.

blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters

Again, no one wanted to roll society back to the days of segregation with separate water fountains, lunch counters or busses.

rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids

You mean like the FBI at Waco, or with the Elian Gonzalez affair in Florida (hint, that was under President Clinton’s watch)

schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution

Again, no one wanted to take the Theory of Evolution out of the schools. They just wanted other theories to be covered as well.

writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government

You mean like the maker of the video that supposedly created the mess in Benghazi?

and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens.”

Like the many rules promulgated by the EPA and IRS?

No, my problem is with leftists constantly trying to rewrite history and expecting the rest of us to blindly follow your false version.

Mitoch55 on December 19, 2012 at 9:41 AM

RIP

CJ on December 19, 2012 at 9:43 AM

No, Sir. He went to go get help.

HerneTheHunter on December 19, 2012 at 9:26 AM

That’s why he slept off his load and then called his lawyer.

Mitoch55 on December 19, 2012 at 9:43 AM

If we have to bring Kennedy into the discussion, the record is becoming increasingly clear that he live a reprobate’s life and died in disgrace.

22044 on December 19, 2012 at 9:46 AM

The so-called “Lion of the Senate,” Ted Kennedy, surely one of the most despicable men ever to hold high public office in the United States (yes, that’s saying something), stood on the Senate floor and emitted a serious of calumnious lies designed not simply to prevent Judge Bork from being appointed to the Supreme Court but to soil his character irretrievably.

QFT

Paul-Cincy on December 19, 2012 at 9:47 AM

What is inaccurate about Kennedy’s words there? Bork was anti-Roe v. Wade, Bork was anti-Warren Court rulings against Jim Crow. I’m not familiar with his take on Engel v. Vitale, but I suspect he was against it. Is your problem merely with the uber honest tone of the editorial?

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:22 AM

“What’s inaccurate?” Are you saying it’s accurate? You’re actually assigning a quality of “accuracy” to a screed? Wow. You libs can swallow a lot!

Nothing I’ve read about Bork would have forced women into back alley abortions. As a true reservist, he would have no issue with states that allowed abortions. Thus it’s not Bork, but the states and the referendum of the people of those states. Actually, Bork has argued that arguments against Jim Crow were unnecessarily expansive, not that Jim Crow was right. He’s written extensively that he would have decided Brown v. Board of Education the same way, but would have preferred to sign onto a more reservist opinion.

I don’t think Bork was for “rogue police” and I don’t really think “schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution” is anywhere in the arena of reality.

Kennedy’s screed–actually, as I understand it, not really his, but a collaboration with lobbyist groups–is the essence of “Borking”.

The thing was, it was a case of projection. Progressives believe in a uniform America, and in usurping the people’s referendum with the elitist power of the SCOTUS so they see SCOTUS as powerful enough to change the United States into something it’s not. That’s precisely what Bork would have been against.

How is it not accurate? Accurate?? How is accuracy even on the table, when it wants to (BORK!) take some subtle points of judicial writings and turn them into a full Distopia?

There wouldn’t ever have been a “Robert Bork’s America” because Bork didn’t feel himself deserving of deciding the fate of a complete country.

Axeman on December 19, 2012 at 9:59 AM

No, Sir. He went to go get help.

HerneTheHunter on December 19, 2012 at 9:26 AM

From his lawyer. Who was in Europe at the time.

Odysseus on December 19, 2012 at 10:00 AM

That’s a man I would have loved to sit down and have a conversation with. He had the kind of intellect I truly admire.

backwoods conservative on December 19, 2012 at 10:08 AM

I wonder if he and Ted Kennedy ended up in the same place…

steebo77 on December 19, 2012 at 10:17 AM

Greatest loss for the Supreme Court ever.

RIP

ToddPA on December 19, 2012 at 10:19 AM

I admire your stupidity. I really do. It takes chutzpah to this flagrant about one’s own ignorance.

That’s the truth. I guess this sort of thing is the only they way people like that can look at themselves in the morning: believe the lie, baby, believe the lie.

Bob's Kid on December 19, 2012 at 10:22 AM

To the people criticizing the class of my post, I’ll point out that this article does nothing BUT re-air the most politically potent part of Bork’s career.

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 10:31 AM

Judge Bork, the original Sarah Palin. Mercilessly punished for being so consistently right about everything.

CrustyB on December 19, 2012 at 10:32 AM

No, Sir. He went to go get help.

HerneTheHunter on December 19, 2012 at 9:26 AM

..I am so very glad that the kerfuffle around liverspotsforfree‘s idiocy has broached this subject. Defend this:

Chappaquiddick incident
Death
On July 18, 1969, Kopechne attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The celebration was in honor of the dedicated work of the Boiler Room Girls, and was the fourth such reunion of the Robert F. Kennedy campaign workers. Kopechne reportedly left the party at 11:15 p.m. with Robert’s brother Ted, after he — according to his own account — offered to drive her to catch the last ferry back to Edgartown, where she was staying. She did not tell her close friends at the party that she was leaving, and she left her purse and keys behind. Kennedy drove the 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off a narrow, unlit bridge, which was without guardrails and was not on the route to Edgartown. The Oldsmobile landed in Poucha Pond and overturned in the water; Kennedy extricated himself from the vehicle and survived, but Kopechne did not.

Kennedy failed to report the incident to the authorities until the car and Kopechne’s body were discovered the next morning. Kopechne’s parents said that they learned of their daughter’s death from Kennedy himself, before he informed authorities of his involvement. However, they learned Kennedy had been the driver from wire press releases some time later. A private funeral for Kopechne was held on July 22, 1969, at St. Vincent’s Roman Catholic Church in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, attended by Kennedy. She is buried in the parish cemetery on the side of Larksville Mountain.

Aftermath
A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded [sic] guilty to leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He received a two-month suspended sentence. On a national television broadcast that night, Kennedy said that he had not been driving “under the influence of liquor” nor had he ever had a “private relationship” with Kopechne.

The War Planner on December 19, 2012 at 10:32 AM

libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 9:09 AM

Taking personal tragedy as an opportunity for political gain is a sure sign that you are wrong.

RIP Robert Bork.

Fenris on December 19, 2012 at 10:37 AM

To the people criticizing the class of my post, I’ll point out that this article does nothing BUT re-air the most politically potent part of Bork’s career.
libfreeordie on December 19, 2012 at 10:31 AM

That’s like crashing a funeral of someone you don’t like. You’re just one step away from the Westboro ‘church’.

Fenris on December 19, 2012 at 10:43 AM

That’s a man I would have loved to sit down and have a conversation with. He had the kind of intellect I truly admire.

backwoods conservative on December 19, 2012 at 10:08 AM

I met him at a symposium. I asked him if an originalist interpretation was sometimes hard to establish and his eyes lit up. He gave me a lot of points, but his main point was yes, it can be. But in cases where it’s reasonably available and clear, anything else is just judge-made law.

I got the impression walking away that he enjoyed our conversation as much as he did, even if I asked him some skeptical questions about the problems of originalism.

That will remain a favorite conversation of mine. RIP.

Axeman on December 19, 2012 at 10:49 AM

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