CENK UYGUR: The Real Lesson of Bork

[Tace]

The lesson people seemed to have taken away from the Robert Bork hearings was that you cannot be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice if you tell the Senate your real views. That is patently untrue. You only have to avoid telling the truth if you are a conservative jurist. That is because the country does not agree with the conservatives.

Liberal and moderate justices can say, and have said on numerous occasions, that they believe in Roe v. Wade, a woman’s right to choose and the right to privacy. They can state these views with impunity because that is what the American people believe. No nominee is going to be denied a seat on the Supreme Court for believing in these principles.

What we found out when Robert Bork was nominated to the highest court was that you cannot be confirmed if you believe the opposite. Judge Bork told us honestly that he did not believe in Roe or the right to privacy. He did not get defeated for being honest and forthcoming – he was defeated because his views are solidly outside the mainstream.

The conservatives spun this event into an indictment of candor because the real implication is too unfathomable for them – Americans do not agree with the conservative point of view. We do want a right to choose and we do want a right to privacy.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/the-real-lesson-of-bork_b_8328.html

[Maat]

1. Wow, this is a great analysis.

I'm proud of Cenk - he was a prosecutor for a few years (has a law degree). We exchanged emails about the horrors of law school once.
(He is on the "Young Turks" radio program on Sirius Left.)

Looks like he's a fine writer too!