If Bork Hadn't Gotten Borked in 1987 -- No Gay Marriage

[Herman4747]

Determined Senate Democrats along with Gregory Peck (!) borked Bork, which led to Anthony Kennedy as a replacement (Reagan didn't want to fight again), and Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in today's ruling allowing gay marriage.

[Orsino]

2. Oh, I think the Court would still have found a way toward a 5-4 decision.

This was necessary for the party IMO, despite all the fake outrage.

[hughee99]

3. Eh...

Robert Bork died in 2012, and had he served to the end of his life, would have been replaced by President Obama. Do you think an Obama appointee would have voted differently than Kennedy did? Sure, someone else may have written the opinion, but the outcome would have probably been the same.

[Herman4747]

4. Okay, My Mistake. I Had not Heard that He Died.

[Herman4747]

5. On the Other Hand, Bork may well have Retired when...

...Chimpy was President, enabling Bush II to selecte his successor. (Somone like Roberts or Alito).

[hughee99]

9. It's all possible. I'm just saying it's not so easy to trace today's ruling back to a single

event decades ago. Bork could have lived longer if he was on the SC. He could have retired earlier, he could have been hit by a car a decade ago, or some ruling he made decades ago could have upset so many people that Gore, Kerry, or Hillary would have been president and maybe this would have become law years ago.

[JHB]

6. On the other hand, if he had retired while Bush was still occupying the Oval Office...

...his successor would have been a Bush nominee.

[Cirque du So-What]

7. If he'd survived the nomination process and gotten appointed

he'd probably have lived to the present day out of spite.

[fishwax]

8. but then again, if Bork doesn't get Borked, GHW Bush doesn't nominate Souter

GHW nominated Souter because he didn't have the controversial record that Bork had. If Bork had made it through, Bush would likely have nominated someone more right-wing, someone who wouldn't have grown into the court's liberal wing and someone who likely wouldn't have stepped down in order to allow (as Souter did) Obama to appoint his replacement (Sotomayor).

[Herman4747]

10. Both a Writer at DailyKos, and one at the right-wing National Review...

...emphasize the importance of Bork getting borked. (Ted Kennedy playing a particularly important role).
At DailyKos fladem writes:
"It is well worth remembering he [Kennedy] would not have been there to write it had Democrats long ago not fought a Reagan nomination for the Supreme Court."
" It was 1987. Ronald Reagan nominated a well known conservative, Robert Bork, for the Supreme Court. From the moment he was nominated Civil Rights and womens group vowed to fight. The hearings over Bork's nomination, presided over by now VP Biden, were a firefight. They were a national sensation."
"...But nearly 30 years ago Democrats DID fight."

And in the National Review essay, "October 23, 1987: The Turning Point? " We read:
"I’m not saying merely that if Bork hadn’t been rejected, President Reagan wouldn’t have appointed Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote today’s opinion: I think that if Bork had been on the Court, that platform would have given him an outsized opportunity to influence America’s cultural and constitutional discussion – and that America would have been significantly less likely to embrace the sort of the change the Court affirmed today."
Again, as at least one person has noted, Bork did die in 2012, so for his appointment to the Supreme Court to have had a negative effect, he would have had to have retired when Chimpy was President, enabling Bush II to appoint his successor.