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In reply to the discussion: Elizabeth Warren Humiliates Mitch McConnell For Threat To Block Obama SCOTUS Nominee [View all]oberliner
(58,724 posts)Is the name Robert Bork not familiar to you?
That's actually the person that Reagan nominated for the open spot.
The Democrats vowed they would vote him (or any other conservative named by Reagan) down.
As soon as he was nominated, prominent Democrats (led by Ted Kennedy) railed against him in the most strident of terms (justifiably so, in my opinion).
A famous quote from that nomination battle.
"We will fight it all the way - until hell freezes over, and then we'll skate across on the ice" - Benjamin Hooks
In 1987, Senator Biden wrote a scathing report assailing Bork's judicial record. Here's an article about it from the time:
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/04/us/report-assails-bork-s-record-on-constitutional-questions.html
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-5 to reject his nomination.
The full Senate rejected him by a vote of 58-42 with every Democrat but two voting no.
People even started using the expression "Borking" to mean killing someone politically.