Catholic convert Judge Robert Bork dies at 85...

[Michie]

Judge Robert Bork, former circuit judge, U.S. solicitor general and 1987 Supreme Court judicial nominee, has passed on to eternal life. May God welcome him and grant him peace and rest. I was blessed to interview Judge Bork in July 2003, just after his conversion to the Catholic faith on July 21 at the age of 76.

Here's what he told me at the time of his conversion.

Was faith important to your family growing up? In which denomination did you grow up?

Up until age 17, I was in Pittsburgh. I have no siblings. My mother was a schoolteacher up until she got married because at that time you couldn’t be married and teach. My father was in charge of purchasing for one area of a large steel company.

Until age 12, I was going to United Presbyterian Church. My mother and father belonged to two different Presbyterian denominations. Our faith wasn’t terribly important growing up. My mother was interested in spiritual matters, but she was somewhat eclectic about it.

Catholic convert Judge Robert Bork dies at 85...

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

Robert Bork

What a jerk


RIP

 

[AvilaSurfer]

How nice of you.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

How nice of you.

Dying doesn't change who you were.

 

[catholicbybirth]

Robert Bork

What a jerk


RIP

Will you explain why you dislike(d) Judge Bork? I really was not cognizant of his virtues or his vices when he was nominated for the Supreme Court.

Janice

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

Will you explain why you dislike(d) Judge Bork? I really was not cognizant of his virtues or his vices when he was nominated for the Supreme Court.

Janice

Mr Tooban does this better than I can:

Postscript: Robert Bork, 1927-2012 : The New Yorker

To Robert Bork, the Constitution was a suicide pact between the American Government and it's citizenry, essentially hobbling both and ceding power to the rich, the power and the corporate.

58 senators voted against his nomination to the supreme court, the most in the history of the US.

He then resigned is judgeship on the court of appeals out of some petulant fit and nursed the grudge for 25 years.

I'm sorry if it offends some people, but like I said, his death doesn't change who he was.

 

[Wolseley]

Will you explain why you dislike(d) Judge Bork? I really was not cognizant of his virtues or his vices when he was nominated for the Supreme Court.

Janice

I would guess that Charlie dislikes Bork because he was a conservative who was nominated by Ronald Reagan.

Anyway, setting aside the New Yorker, here's a bio that's probably a little less leftist, partisan, and biased: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bork

I admired Bork for his concept of "Originalism", meaning that the courts should never be activist or legislate from the bench, but rather should judge every case by the Constitution and the Framer's original concepts contained within it.

If the Supreme Court had adhered to that concept, we never would have been saddled with outrageous fantasies like Roe v. Wade, where Justice Blackmun invented the "right" for a woman to legally butcher her unborn infant, because said "right" was located somewhere in the Constitution's "penumbra".

I've read the Constitution numerous times, and for the life of me, I have never been able to find the ephemeral "penumbra"....but if I ever decide to stop paying income tax, I'll defend it by saying that persons over the age of 50 have the Constitutional right to forego paying income tax. When they ask where that statute is located within the Constitution, I'll simply say, "Why, it's in the 'penumbra', of course. If Supreme Court Justices can invent stupid cr@p out of thin air that then becomes 'law', so can I."

Then I'll go to prison, and all that money that they want from me, they will instead have to spend on me. Hehhehheheheh.

 

[LoAmmi]

I admired Bork for his concept of "Originalism", meaning that the courts should never be activist or legislate from the bench, but rather should judge every case by the Constitution and the Framer's original concepts contained within it.

I am willing to take every bit of the paper money you have as the original intent of the Framer's was coins. So, in your love of Originalism, send me a PM and I'll tell you where to send your paper money and you can be free of activist judges when it came to ruling that paper money was ok.

 

[Wolseley]

I am willing to take every bit of the paper money you have as the original intent of the Framer's was coins. So, in your love of Originalism, send me a PM and I'll tell you where to send your paper money and you can be free of activist judges when it came to ruling that paper money was ok.

Sure. You can give me the equivalent amount in gold coins, and I'll be happy to give you the paper money.

 

[LoAmmi]

Sure. You can give me the equivalent amount in gold coins, and I'll be happy to give you the paper money.

Touche.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Mr Tooban does this better than I can:

Postscript: Robert Bork, 1927-2012 : The New Yorker

To Robert Bork, the Constitution was a suicide pact between the American Government and it's citizenry, essentially hobbling both and ceding power to the rich, the power and the corporate.

58 senators voted against his nomination to the supreme court, the most in the history of the US.

He then resigned is judgeship on the court of appeals out of some petulant fit and nursed the grudge for 25 years.

I'm sorry if it offends some people, but like I said, his death doesn't change who he was.

And obvious bias from either an uninformed Tooban or just a nasty person with an agenda.

You actually had to read what Bork wrote to know what his positions were.

A far as being opposed to the Civil Rights Act, Bork's position was that it wasn't necessary because the US Constitution already provided the rights to African Americans, and all the government had to do is enforce it.

Either way, he was a brilliant mind, and he was hosed in the Confirmation hearings, by the same type of misinformation as Tooban writes.

His rejection is what began a division in this country, which we suffer from now.

Every Supreme Court nominee is not faced with opposition, merely on the basis that the person was nominated by a president of the opposing party, whether democrat or republican.

The division is how we ended up with a dolt like George Bush.


Jim

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

And obvious bias from either an uninformed Tooban or just a nasty person with an agenda.

Did Bork do all the things listed in the article or did he not ?

If he did, he was a jerk.

and he did.

You actually had to read what Bork wrote to know what his positions were.

I was actually around for the hearing and watch him defend his decisions from the bench. I have his postions directly from his mouth.

They were recorded you can youtube them I'm sure.

A far as being opposed to the Civil Rights Act, Bork's position was that it wasn't necessary because the US Constitution already provided the rights to African Americans, and all the government had to do is enforce it.

This was a serious issue with his understanding of the law and the history of supreme court decisions going back to 1870.

It was also considered at the time and now for that matter to have been a complete disingenuous statement given his views on how supreme court decisions should be handled by future courts.

Either way, he was a brilliant mind, and he was hosed in the Confirmation hearings, by the same type of misinformation as Tooban writes.

He was tarred with his own words.

If he was jobbed he was jobbed with his own towering intellect.

His rejection is what began a division in this country, which we suffer from now.

Get real.

Every Supreme Court nominee is not faced with opposition, merely on the basis that the person was nominated by a president of the opposing party, whether democrat or republican.

His opposition was wide, deep and bipartisan.

The division is how we ended up with a dolt like George Bush.

This logic is not immediately obvious, can you explain.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

I would guess that Charlie dislikes Bork because he was a conservative who was nominated by Ronald Reagan.

No, that's why I dislike Scailia,

I've already explained why I dislike Bork.

It goes all the way back to the Saturday Night Massacre, which I was actually around to see.

Anyway, setting aside the New Yorker, here's a bio that's probably a little less leftist, partisan, and biased: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bork

Yes a wiki encyclopedia as a source is impressive in it's authority and scholarship

I admired Bork for his concept of "Originalism", meaning that the courts should never be activist or legislate from the bench, but rather should judge every case by the Constitution and the Framer's original concepts contained within it.

I'm sure you do.

If the Supreme Court had adhered to that concept, we never would have been saddled with outrageous fantasies like Roe v. Wade, where Justice Blackmun invented the "right" for a woman to legally butcher her unborn infant, because said "right" was located somewhere in the Constitution's "penumbra".

If the Court had adhered to to that concept the whole issue would have been moot since the 1803 Marbary v Madison case wouldn't have been decided to include the concept of judicial review, the court whole have no authority to review the Constitutionality of any law and we would likely be a lot better off generally.

but,

that's isn't the way things turned out and pining about it doesn't help.

I've read the Constitution numerous times, and for the life of me, I have never been able to find the ephemeral "penumbra"....but if I ever decide to stop paying income tax, I'll defend it by saying that persons over the age of 50 have the Constitutional right to forego paying income tax. When they ask where that statute is located within the Constitution, I'll simply say, "Why, it's in the 'penumbra', of course. If Supreme Court Justices can invent stupid cr@p out of thin air that then becomes 'law', so can I."

You go with that

Then I'll go to prison, and all that money that they want from me, they will instead have to spend on me. Hehhehheheheh.

Your terms are acceptable by me.

 

[Michie]

Whenever I saw him, Judge Robert Bork’s face radiated love, peace, and beauty...

Robert Bork died this morning. He should have been on the Supreme Court. But perhaps the fact that he wasn’t confirmed was as important a lesson to us as the time Ronald Reagan intended to have him spend on the Court might have been. I remember emceeing a “Women for Roberts” event back one hot August D.C. day.

 

[Michie]

Whenever I saw him, Judge Robert Bork’s face radiated love, peace, and beauty...

Robert Bork died this morning. He should have been on the Supreme Court. But perhaps the fact that he wasn’t confirmed was as important a lesson to us as the time Ronald Reagan intended to have him spend on the Court might have been. I remember emceeing a “Women for Roberts” event back one hot August D.C. day.

 

[Michie]

Judge Robert Bork, Conservative Icon and Catholic Convert, R.I.P.



WASHINGTON — Early yesterday morning, Judge Robert H. Bork died in an Arlington hospital of complications from heart disease.
A renowned legal scholar and former professor at Yale, Bork served as U.S. Solicitor General and U.S. Attorney General, and sat as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1982-1988, where he was succeeded by Clarence Thomas.
Today, he is probably best remembered for the contentious Senate confirmation battle that followed his nomination by President Ronald Reagan to the Supreme Court.



Read more: Judge Robert Bork, Conservative Icon and Catholic Convert, R.I.P. | Daily News | NCRegister.com

 

[AMDG]

His book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah was indeed prophetic.

May he rest in peace.

Robert Bork Lived To See His Theories Become Reality : The Last Resistance

 

[AvilaSurfer]

Y'know, when Teddy ( I didn't kill that girl) Kennedy died, we were all supposed to be respectful for at least a day or two.

 

[Wolseley]

Y'know, when Teddy ( I didn't kill that girl) Kennedy died, we were all supposed to be respectful for at least a day or two.

Yeah; amazing, isn't it?

 

[TheOtherHockeyMom]

Y'know, when Teddy ( I didn't kill that girl) Kennedy died, we were all supposed to be respectful for at least a day or two.

I wasn't here much then, were his political opponents here respectful for a day or two, or was there a lot of bashing going on?