Robert Bork Dead: Former Solicitor General And Supreme Court Nominee Dies At 84

[brooklynite]

Source: Huffington Post

Robert Bork, a former solicitor general perhaps best known for his controversial Supreme Court nomination which failed in 1987, died Wednesday due to heart complications, PJ Media and National Review report. He was 84.

Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, only to be eventually rejected by the Senate after contentious debate.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/robert-bork-dead-dies_n_2329553.html

[hlthe2b]

1. yet another who reminds me of that wonderful adage your Mom told you growing up...

If you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all...

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
crickets....

[haikugal]

2. Yep.....

[awoke_in_2003]

43. Nothing. nt

[hifiguy]

61. I will second that. nt

[SharonAnn]

77. "He's dead. Good." There, I said something good about the dead.

I'm concerned that I feel this way, but the end of some of these people can't come soon enough for me. They do terrible damage to our democracy.

[lastlib]

90. K & R!!!

Thank you, God and Ted Kennedy, for never allowing this slimewad to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

(no, I didn't say anything bad about him; calling him a slimewad is like giving him a field promotion from what I really think of him. Now, slimewads might be justifiably offended.........)

[Randomthought]

121. and Joe Biden

Thanks to Joe too

[HughBeaumont]

120. Gunga Dick Cheney comes to mind.

Nino the Fixer Scalia is another.

[Bucky]

80. Betcha dollar DU doesn't follow your mama's advice.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

84. I have nothing good to say, so I'll defer to this guy:

?w=477

[Liberalynn]

93. +1

The nasty stuff shall remain in my thought bubble

[Thor_MN]

97. .

[goclark]

98. May he rest ---- forget he peace

[HereSince1628]

3. Never wished for someone dead, but I do enjoy some obituaries

Thank-you Mr. Clemens, I do believe I resemble that remark.

[madaboutharry]

4. +1

[amb123]

11. +1

[Paladin]

18. +1. (nt)

[prairierose]

37. +1

[valerief]

56. +1

[smirkymonkey]

99. +1000

Sorry, but I am just not sorry.

[Raster]

127. +1

...

[DinahMoeHum]

5. "Better A Hard-Ass Dork Than A Wet-Ass Bork"

- seen on graffiti all those years ago.

[tularetom]

6. He was a mammal

That's about the nicest thing I can say about him.

(Stole that from the old Night Court show)

[Javaman]

8. !

I agree!

[progressoid]

24. Mammal?

Are you sure?

[alfredo]

41. He had four nipples. That's why you never saw him without his shirt.

[valerief]

57. Stop exaggerating. He only had three. nt

[alfredo]

74. One was on his back.

[valerief]

103. Right above his vestigial tail. nt

[alfredo]

113. No, that's a mole.

[DreamGypsy]

60. Slime molds are not mammals.

Once again, a bad comparison, and I have to apologize to the slime molds. I really do like slime molds - they are much more beautiful than Bork.

[Botany]

7. oh well he was interesting looking

[Renew Deal]

27. That's not him

[Botany]

36. R you sure?

Scruffy beard and nasty ideology ..... I am pretty sure that is Bork or his
doppelganger.

[jsr]

9. Interesting data point.

[tech3149]

10. Peace be with you and good riddance n/t

[Kolesar]

12. He was chairman of Romney's Judicial Advisory Committee. eom

[swayne]

13. Because of the BORK rejection at the SC this hyper-partisanism in courts got started....

the legacy has been lasting, but it seems to be going away. We'll see...

[n2doc]

17. He was the epitome of hyper-partisan

Had he been appointed he would have easily been the equal of Scalia in asshattery. Don't blame his rejection for our problems, blame the Senate that didn't reject more of these fools.

[truebluegreen]

29. What n2doc said.

And given Scalia, Thomas and Alito on the court plus all the nominations the Republicans have held up in the Senate I see no reason to think hyperpartisanism is going anywhere.

[Volaris]

122. Probably true, but if Roberts turns out to be another Souter-type Justice,

that will act as a pretty good blocking mechanism...but I'm not placing that bet YET.

[truebluegreen]

123. Here's hoping.

I left Roberts off the asshattery list because he can at least read a poll, as shown by his ruling on the ACA.

But I'm not holding my breath.

[annabanana]

83. Yeah, BUT

Scalia is still alive. If Bork had been there he would have done no worse damage and then. . . . . . .

[n2doc]

87. Fail

The vacant seat on the court to which Bork was nominated eventually went to Judge Anthony Kennedy who was unanimously approved by the Senate, 97-0

We would not have had Scalia in THAT seat.

Kennedy, not a great judge by any means, but 10x better than Scalia or Bork. The only thing that would have been good about having Bork there would be that we would now have an opening.

[zipplewrath]

47. Reagan's

Reagan should never have appointed someone with so little chance of being confirmed. Reagan's action lead to the hyper partisan rancour over judges that has poisoned the system ever since. Another Reagan legacy, along with out of control budgets, and union bashing with which we suffer to this day. And the middle class has been in decline every since he was President.

[caseymoz]

71. It would have started anyway.

Conservatives were hellbent on putting ideologues of questionable integrity and ethics. I still find the fact that Bork called himself a "constructionist" to be insulting to the intelligence.

Conservatives, especially social ones, resented Roe v. Wade and economic conservatives resented a whole slew of rulings. They were crying foul because the courts were "legislating from the bench." So, now they got their constructionists in to do the same damn thing.

Thomas hadn't entered the pipes yet. A fight over the courts was inevitable.

[davidpdx]

106. Very true

The Republicans were working throughout the 70s and 80s to bring up a new crop of ultraconservative lawyers to fill judicial positions from the lowest bench to the Supreme Court.

[Vattel]

107. Not everyone should be confirmed. He wasn't qualified.

Anyone who believes that we the people have no rights except those explicitly mentioned in the law should not be a judge.

[JHB]

118. That's just wrong. By the 70s conservatives were laying the groundwork...

...for their own crop of politically-active federal judges because they convinced themselves that the courts were a stronghold of liberal activism. It was the judicial parallel to their campaigns against "liberal media" which saw bias in every report that failed to promote the conservative view.

Bork was just the first of these to reach the Supreme Court, and if they didn't know "Mr. Saturday Night Massacre" would spark a fight then they were deluding themselves (more than usual). And Bork's writings since then pretty much support the view that Bork's attempts to look moderate at his hearings was just lip service.

The SC approvals have become hyper-partisan because conservatives organized themselves to make it so.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

14. Condolences to his family

[calimary]

115. Welcome to DU, WhoWoodaKnew!

Glad you're here. Many an attempt here to be graceful and not speak ill of the dead. So I'll go along with that.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

135. Thanks

[blueclown]

15. Good riddance to bad rubbish

[HughBeaumont]

16. BORK BORK BORK!!

No toast for Nixon/Reagan stooges.

[Arugula Latte]

62. Okay, that made me laugh.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

19. BORK . . . the other white judge.

Not Louie Gohmert crazy, but quite a piece of work. Adios.

[Dustlawyer]

124. Rachel's piece reminded me of testimony, especially the part where he once

ruled in favor of a corporation who gave women of childbearing age the choice, they could either be sterilized, or be fired! He supported segregation. His views were of the most vile and harmful sort, with no thought to justice. Like Scalia, he thought that there should be an elite, and corporations rule! But, as much as I despise Scalia, Bork would have been much worse. SCOTUS decisions can be life or death to many Americans. Would you want either of those two making those decisions for you? Scary stuff indeed!

[CrazyOrangeCat]

125. well said . . .

[TroyD]

20. Bork & Romney

It was reported earlier in the year that Bork was going to be Romney's chief adviser on legal issues.

Turns out that even if Romney had won, Bork wouldn't have been able to fulfill his duties.

Just as well!

[yellowcanine]

21. Bork was the guy who fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox

In Oct 1973 when Nixon ordered AG Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox over the Watergate tapes he refused and resigned instead. Then the deputy AG William Ruckleshaus also resigned rather than carry out the order. Next in line was Soliciter General Bork, who carried out the order - which was later ruled an illegal act in a lawsuit filed by Ralph Nader. So spare no tears for the failure of Bork to get confirmed for the SCOTUS. His enabling of Nixon to continue to flout the law let the Watergate saga drag on for another 9 months. Had Bork refused Nixon's order it may well have triggered a constitutional crisis which could have forced Nixon to resign much earlier.

[dixiegrrrrl]

79. I was hoping SOMEONE would be old enough to remember that!

that incident is when the guy's name got filed in my "gov't criminal" mental folder.
Imagine my surprise when Reagan dusted him off and presented him for Congressional review.

[REP]

96. Our family car had an "Impeach the Cox Sacker" bumper sticker

It was the '70s.

[Harry Monroe]

23. May his family find peace and solace

As for Robert Bork....I would say let him rot in hell, but I don't want to speak ill of the dead. The nicest thing I can say is...Robert Bork, you won't be missed.

[RC]

25. How many people are so bad, their names become part of the English language for something not good?

Borked

[kooljerk666]

134. Bork & Santorum come to mind......n/t

[yellowcanine]

26. Instead of Bork we got Anthony Kennedy. Not a liberal by any means, but at least a swing vote.

Kennedy's nomination came after the rejection of Bork and the withdrawal of Douglas Ginsberg, who was revealed to have smoked marijuana.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

33. My god, that's so funny

Nowadays, would anyone have batted an eye if a guy admitted to smoking weed?

[Panasonic]

28. Can I say good riddance to bad rubbish?

I hope he just started roasting nicely.

I hope Fat Tony and Silent Clarence follows....

[Third Doctor]

30. Even though I detest his beliefs

I will not stoop to wishing ill of the dead. RIP and all my best to his family.

[broadcaster75201]

31. If you are familiar with the song "Nothing" from A Chorus Line ...

... then you know how I feel about this news.

[alfredo]

32. Heart troubles? I guess I was wrong about him not having one.

[southernyankeebelle]

34. Now I can rest easy knowing this man will never sit on the supreme court.

Thank god.

[UpInArms]

35. the killer of the fairness doctrine

hope it's warm where he now resides

[kpete]

38. sorry

but, good riddance,
kp

[Nanjing to Seoul]

39. For some reason, I do not feel any pangs of sympathy for Bork, the Cox-sacker!

[struggle4progress]

40. He was best known for his role in the Saturday Night Massacre

In May 1973, AG Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as a special prosecutor to investigate the 1972 Watergate break-in. and Cox subpoenaed President Nixon for his Oval Office tapes. Nixon responded on Saturday, 20 October 1973, by ordering Richardson to fire Cox, but Richardson resigned instead. Nixon next gave that order to the next-highest official, William Ruckelshaus, who also chose to resign. This left Robert Bork effectively head of the Justice Department. Bork followed Nixon's instructions and fired Cox

This Saturday Night Massacre shocked most people and contributed to Nixon's fall. But it made Bork a great hero to conservative hardliners, who pushed Reagan to nominate Bork for the Supreme Court

[Cooley Hurd]

46. Thank you - I was just about to post this tidbit...

Richardson and Ruckelshouse both refused to, because it was grossly unethical. Bork didn't have any ethics, so he became the hatchetman. THAT act is what truly scuttled his SCOTUS nom.

[Beacool]

42. Not a supporter of the man, but rest in peace.

My condolences to his family.

[PlanetBev]

44. Early Christmas Present

Mean, heartless bastard. Say "hi" to Breitbart for me.

[JohnnyRingo]

109. I'm guessing they didn't call on you to deliver the eulogy?

Hahahaha
I agree, but karma has me keeping the celebration relatively quiet.

[Historic NY]

45. self - Borked.

[alp227]

48. Sen. Ted Kennedy: "Robert Bork's America"

“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, school children could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censured at the whim of government."

[FVZA_Colonel]

49. Get ready for all the right-wing hagiographies about how he was unfairly smeared by Ted Kennedy,

ignoring his involvement in the Saturday Night Massacre and his support for poll taxes.

We're better off without him.

[amuse bouche]

50. John Cook just wrote a scathing

article about him


"Robert Bork Was a Terrible Human Being and No One Should Grieve His Passing"

"Robert Bork has died. Bork is best known in public memory for his failed Supreme Court nomination, which thankfully foundered on the rank extremism of his beliefs. And those beliefs were vile—not because of the stark principles that purportedly undergirded them, but because of the bigotry and contempt for modernity they masked.

But more vile than his reactionary agenda was his hatred for democracy and his fealty to incipient tyranny, as expressed in his willingness to follow anti-Semitic madman Richard Nixon down the rabbit hole of criminality"


http://gawker.com/5969771/robert-bork-was-a-terrible-human-being-and-no-one-should-grieve-his-passing

[Great Caesars Ghost]

131. YES SIR!!!!

[Speck Tater]

51. Like all conservatives who pass away...

... he was shocked to come face to face with God and find out She's a Liberal!

[graham4anything]

52. The Dream Lives On! Teddy smiling from up in heaven, Bork and his viewpoints now in Hell

[jmowreader]

53. I do not believe in an everlasting soul

So I don't believe Bork's is roasting in a nonexistent hell.

I believe what you leave behind is your reputation. Bork's is of the most corrupt man in America. This guy makes Gee Dubya Bush look honest.

[yorgatron]

54. good riddance to bad rubbish.

[Odin2005]

55. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[sofa king]

58. He could have trampled the Constitution for 25 years.

Imagine if he had been there to tell Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia to lay off the steak lunches and do some actual work instead.

By now, they surely would have realized their dreams, and America would be overpopulated, impoverished, and in the middle of a decades-long civil war as the various factions of religious extremism used unlimited weaponry against one another in a bid for control of the nation.

Un-maintained planes would be colliding and falling from the sky while poor people chip away at the concrete foundations of bridges to get at the rebar for recycling. There would be few trees left as they would need to be cleared to create lines of sight for the mounted machine gun positions that protect every wealthy person's home. Crack would be freely distributed in non-white neighborhoods.

My lovely mountains would have turned blue again as the cordite smoke from incessant combat hung in the air. Where has the dream gone?

[DreamGypsy]

59. Ding, dong. Bork is dead.

Which old Bork? Robert Bork.

From NBC:

Within 45 minutes of Reagan’s announcement of Bork as his nominee to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of swing justice Lewis Powell, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D- Mass., went to the Senate floor to deliver a scathing assault on him. “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, school children could not be taught about evolution, writers and artist could be censured at the whim of government,” Kennedy said.

<snip>

Playing a leading role is defeating Bork was the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, an episode Biden recalled in his debate with GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in 2008: “I led the fight against Judge Bork. Had he been on the court, I suspect there would be a lot of changes that I don't like and the American people wouldn't like, including everything from (overturning) Roe v. Wade to issues relating to civil rights and civil liberties.”

[Arugula Latte]

64. Stick a spork in Bork.

He is no more.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

65. A christmas before christmas

[ellisonz]

66. +1

[Dawson Leery]

86. +1

[bullwinkle428]

67. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster that this nut never got the chance to wreak havoc

upon this country via the Supreme Court for the past 25 years!

[cloudbase]

68. Often in error,

never in doubt.

The one man who could make Scalia almost look mainstream.

[dairydog91]

73. Scalia has virtues which Bork lacked.

Chief among them would be Scalia's generally good outlook on free speech cases. Bork's Slouching towards Gomorrah had more than a few pages in which he railed about the horrors of flag burning, wearing anti-draft jackets, and other horrible acts which he thought didn't deserve any First Amendment protections.

[BlueManFan]

69. Being Glad This Asshole is Gone

isn't the same thing as actually killing him so my conscience is clear. He can join Lee Atwater in hell's armpit.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

95. Doesn't matter how he died, just as long as he is dead.

[triplepoint]

70. I'm STILL Pro-aBORKtion!

I had a bumpersticker on my car while at Purdue during the time bork was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. It said:

I'm Pro-aBORKtion!

I parked the car in a supermarket parking lot and went inside the store. When I came back out, the passenger window had chewing tobacco splattered all over it. It made my day.

It's nice to wake up and read this great news. Truly made my day!

[cstanleytech]

72. Whenever I heard Borks named I always thought of the assistance he provided Nixon in

trying to close down the watergate investigation rather than his nomination to the Supreme Court.

[Bohunk68]

75. Moms Mabley used to say

that her mother taught her to say nothing but good about the dead. He's dead. Good.

[Turbineguy]

76. Looks like

he'll miss the end of the world on friday.

[hifiguy]

78. Clarence Darrow said it best, though Twain gets the credit

even though he never said it:

"All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."

Source: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/05/mark-twain-didnt-say-thing-about-obituaries/37279/

[aquart]

81. Bork. At least we limited the damage.

Oh dear God, is he Number 2? I don't want him on the same list as Daniel Inouye.

[Ken Burch]

82. The stupid thing is, Reagan could have HAD Bork on the court

if he'd just nominated him for the vacancy in '86, when he still had a GOP Senate. Why was the Gipper so bound and determined to make OUR guys confirm the bastard?

[question everything]

85. My very first letter to a politician

asking my two senators and two primary candidates who were on the judiciary committee: Biden (not sure whether he was still in the running) and Simon to reject his nomination.

[Warpy]

88. "I've never wished a man dead,

but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."--Clarence Darrow

It should be his epitaph.

[CanonRay]

89. Good riddance.

[williesgirl]

91. Good riddance - may he rot in Hell

[Aviation Pro]

92. Hell's spokesdemon...

...Balam confirmed that Mr. Bork has been received and is resting comfortably, naked, while being violated in every orifice of his body.

[Fedaykin]

94. Another one bites the dust...

or becomes the dust

[Jennicut]

100. Hmmmm, I have nothing really nice to say.

Except a thank you to the late Senator Kennedy and to Biden who both played big roles in keeping Bork off the SC. And Biden did not do it by attacking him in an ultra political way, which many Repubs now lie about. He used the argument about the right to privacy. And Bork did himself in all on his own.

[Auntie Bush]

101. I'm sorry for his family. But now for the first time

I wish he had been elected to the SC. Then Obama could put in a Dem which is the only way we'll ever have a majority is if a rethug SCJ retires or dies.

[DonCoquixote]

102. I know it is not right

But considering what this creep could have done, and tried to keep doing...

YES..

TIME TO GRAVE DANCE!!!

[kestrel91316]

104. Are we expected to be sad???

Because I'm not.

[davidpdx]

105. I'm going to bite my tongue on this one

But when Scalia dies, it will be a different story.

[JohnnyRingo]

108. The stain he left on American society will never be gone.

But now we know it won't get worse.
May he rest in peace or something, I don't care.

[Tutonic]

110. Are we really sure the man is dead...and not just maybe taking a long nap?

[MrSlayer]

111. This was not a quality person.

He just wasn't. Bork was a bad guy that did bad things. No tears from me.

[Crunchy Frog]

112. May he RIH.

[lapfog_1]

114. Yet one more place to visit on my bucket list... - n/t

[lastlib]

126. .!

me, too. But it may not be legal to bury toxic waste. He may have to be cremated. We wouldn't want him leaching into the groundwater-table.....

[XanaDUer]

116. Hell has a new Overlord. Nt

[AngryOldDem]

117. Bye. n/t

[nikto]

119. I am

I am so not mourning this guy.

[scheming daemons]

128. terminated in his 339th trimester

.

[and-justice-for-all]

129. Thank the FSM! nt

[JPK]

130. Bork...dead......

YEA! Someone should have told him to do a better job of shaving. He always looked like a derelict.

[bobhuntsman]

132. please, dear Jesus. . .

Cheney next???

amen.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

133. Bork was a Cox Sacker.