Slog Comments
Robert Bork
3
Everyone will remember the Supreme Court rejection, nobody will remember his role in the Saturday Night Massacre. RIP.
8
And had he not Borked the nomination process, Obama would have had a nomination and there would be a new 5-4.
10
Enjoyable to think how the bitterness of not being confirmed must have been heightened by the intellectual non-entity that took 'his' seat. Also nice to know that he got to live a good long time stewing in that bitterness.
For all its ills today, America would be a far worse place if he'd been put on the court.
For all its ills today, America would be a far worse place if he'd been put on the court.
11
@8: Meanwhile, no Planned Parenthood v. Casey, no Romer v. Evans, no Lawrence v. Texas, no Boumediene v. Bush, no ...
With Bork on the Supreme Court, the progress of gay rights alone would have been delayed at least 10 years. Anthony Kennedy ain't perfect, but the country dodged a bullet by borking Bork.
With Bork on the Supreme Court, the progress of gay rights alone would have been delayed at least 10 years. Anthony Kennedy ain't perfect, but the country dodged a bullet by borking Bork.
12
@ 3, they should, because it was his role as triggerman in the Saturday Night Massacre that led to his rejection by the Senate. But of course the right managed to easily spin the myth that it was solely for his views, conveniently forgetting how the similarly-viewed Antonin Scalia sailed through his confirmation just a year earlier.
13
@10: "Intellectual non-entity"?!? He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law. I suppose you were summa?
14
@ 11, I wonder what kind of court we would have had if Douglas Ginsberg wasn't forced to withdraw his nomination for smoking pot. All I remember about him was that he was the guy they originally found in place of Bork. In and out of the news, just like that.
16
@13. All horsepower, no steering wheel. See 2008-12 financial crisis, primarily driven by similarly well educated folks.
18
@8
His potential seat was filled by Kennedy, so, yeah Kennedy sucks, but Bork would have been way worse.
His potential seat was filled by Kennedy, so, yeah Kennedy sucks, but Bork would have been way worse.
20
@14: Ginsburg is a Chicago School law & econ loon who coined the term "Constitution in Exile." His record on the DC Circuit is not super-ideological (actually as Chief Judge of the Circuit he was quite conciliatory), but you can bet that on the Supreme Court he would have had less restraint.
21
@3:
I certainly remembered his part in the Saturday Night Massacre, which was the basis for my opposition to his becoming a Supreme Court justice. I thought his behavior was craven butt-kissing (and not in a good way). Oh, yes - @13: don't be so impressed with fancy degrees from expensive schools. Need I point out that Yale has graduated three generations of Bushes?
I certainly remembered his part in the Saturday Night Massacre, which was the basis for my opposition to his becoming a Supreme Court justice. I thought his behavior was craven butt-kissing (and not in a good way). Oh, yes - @13: don't be so impressed with fancy degrees from expensive schools. Need I point out that Yale has graduated three generations of Bushes?
22
Good riddance.
He goes back further than the Saturday Night Massacre. He was part of Goldwater's Brains Trust, and persuaded Goldwater to vote "no" on the Civil Rights Act on "Constitutional" grounds -- grounds that left him aping the words of Plessy v Ferguson. Bork was a different kind of segregationist than James Eastland or George Wallace, but a segregationist he nonetheless was.
He goes back further than the Saturday Night Massacre. He was part of Goldwater's Brains Trust, and persuaded Goldwater to vote "no" on the Civil Rights Act on "Constitutional" grounds -- grounds that left him aping the words of Plessy v Ferguson. Bork was a different kind of segregationist than James Eastland or George Wallace, but a segregationist he nonetheless was.
24
@21: In the first place, there's a difference between undergrad and law school. If you graduate in the top 10% of your Harvard Law School class (or your Podunk Law School class, for that matter), you are a smart cookie.
In the second, the Bushes, even in the third generation, are smarter than you think (though it's probably fair to call G.W. an "intellectual non-entity").
In the second, the Bushes, even in the third generation, are smarter than you think (though it's probably fair to call G.W. an "intellectual non-entity").
26
@24, smart people do stupid things all the time. How many Ivy League degrees were there among the fellows who started the Vietnam War? Or the Iraq War?
27
@26: Of course they do. Your point? The issue here is whether Justice Kennedy is a lightweight. I maintain that he is not, even though he makes mistakes, and even though I disagree with him most of the time.
28
And my point is that "lightweight" is not a meaningful distinction. I think I'm agreeing with you, but hey, if you want to argue, carry on. I'll be in the other room.
30
@26 Usually with a political motivation. But I contend anyone who believes myths and superstitions are indeed facts, isn't suited to a job with anymore authority than a preacher. G.W. should have been a preacher.
31
Roasting marshmallows with the Devil, I assume, talking about Hell being a perfectly unfettered state of libertarianism and objectivism where everyone is perfectly free to sear however they see fit and how it isn't the government's responsibility to provide water.
32
I was too small to be sentient at the time of Bork's nomination. Reading the NYT obituary of him ( http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/us/rob… ) all I can think is, WOW what a piece of shit. Just like Scalia only, if anything, worse. The fact that he went on to write a book that decried egalitarianism makes me shudder. Thanks so much, Ted Kennedy, Arlen Specter and all the others who kept this guy off the court.
The rot in this man's intellect was astounding. It's clear to me that he was not only lacking in compassion, he was arrogant and prejudiced to the point of being hateful.
The rot in this man's intellect was astounding. It's clear to me that he was not only lacking in compassion, he was arrogant and prejudiced to the point of being hateful.
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