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In Memoriam

Robert Bork’s America

By on 12.20.12 @ 6:10AM

Reagan’s Supreme Court nominee: The Constitution and the savage attack that made his name a verb.

(Page 4 of 4)

Bork had been considered at the time, but it was Scalia who got the nod — and as it turned out it was Scalia who was approved easily yet became for the left exactly what they feared in Bork. A Supreme Court Justice of fearsome intelligence and devoted to “originalism” — interpreting the Constitution as written, not as the Justice’s personal politics may dictate.

At the close of The Tempting of America, to illustrate his concern about the politicization of the law, Judge Bork used lines from Robert Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons. The story of the British Lord Chancellor Thomas More, executed by King Henry VIII for his loyalty to Papal Authority.

The lines come from a dialogue between More and his son-in-law Roper, who was urging More to arrest a man seen as evil because the man had broken God’s law — although not English law.

When Roper insisted “there is God’s law” to be considered, More replied: 

“Then God can arrest him…. The law, Roper, the law. I know what’s legal not what’s right. And I’ll stick to what’s legal… I’m not God. The currents and eddies of right and wrong, which you find such plain sailing, I can’t navigate. I’m no voyager. But in the thickets of the law, oh, there I’m a forester.”

Roper, wrote Bork, “would not be appeased and he leveled the charge that Moore would give the Devil the benefit of law.” Then Bork quotes the following lines:

More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? …This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down… d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?… Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of the law, for my own safety’s sake.

Bork concluded by saying of giving anyone the benefit of the law — specifically the Constitution:

It is a hard saying and a hard duty, but it is the duty we must demand of judges. 

And so it is.

As America bids farewell to Robert Bork — a good man of great decency and class, a man with a brilliant legal mind and the ability to make his case — it is finally time to rewrite Ted Kennedy’s famous speech. To say, simply: 

“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which the law is the Constitution of the United States.”

Period.

And amen.

Page: ‹ First   2 34

About the Author

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (104) |

Moe Blotz| 12.20.12 @ 6:43AM

Don't you mean, "A more decent man would be hard to find."? My man Wordmonger said "it" should be absent from your statement.

Al Brooks, BleedingHeartlib | 12.20.12 @ 5:57PM

"Were Robert Bork not a public figure the remark might have been slanderous.
It was slanderous, just not legally so."

You think we don't know the difference between slander and libel??

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 8:17AM

“Taney, he wrote of Democrat Andrew Jackson’s Court appointee, the slave-owning Chief Justice Roger Taney, used the Dred Scott case (the case of a slave suing for his freedom because he was’taken by his owner into the free state of Illinois and then to federal territory where slavery had been forbidden by the Missouri Compromise’) as the chance ‘to make his resentments and his adherence to the cause of the slave states into constitutional law.’ ”

At the time of his selection, Taney’s appointment to the SCOTUS was lauded as historic, as he was the first Catholic appointed to this institution. In that infamous decision, Taney wrote:

“It would give to persons of the negro race, ...the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, ...to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased ...the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.”

This decision by the head Democrat in the judicial branch of government at the time not only is instructive as to how the Party and its adherents viewed the issue of race and slavery, but also regarding the rights that should be denied a person to guarantee that they were not the equal of a Free People.

Anna K. from Emory U.| 12.20.12 @ 9:28AM

It behooves me to address you, the regular readers of AmSpec, but a student who is monitoring this site for hate speech showed me a posting from Tuesday’s Jeffrey Lord article that my conscience cannot let me ignore:.

The poster below is alluding to President Obama.

TLP| 12.18.12 @ 3:23PM
I look forward to his Caisson Ride down Pennsylvania Avenue.
God Willing.

TLP, a regular AmSpec responder (one of the most vile), wants our president assassinated, and only one responder objected—Engle @ 4:04 P.M.

No moral outrage from readers who vociferously denounce the “murder” (termination of a pregnancy) of “babies” (fetuses). Jeffrey Lord even had the demented audacity to equate abortion with the massacre of school children at Newtown. This is the kind of twisted “moral reasoning” found on this blog.

Though many on this site profess to be Christian, I can see little evidence of love or compassion or mercy in your postings— and often not even a scrap of decency. What I do see—what comes out loud and clear—is raw, unbridled hatred.

I thank God that instead of harboring hatred, I have love in my heart. My Christmas Eve will be spent serving the homeless in a downtown shelter. Afterwards, a friend and I will drive around the city in a van stocked with warm sandwiches, looking for homeless men and women who may be hungry. Christmas day I will visit those patients in a nursing home who have no family to visit them.

Anna K. from Emory U.| 12.20.12 @ 9:30AM

I pray that the readers of AmSpec can let go of their anger and bitterness. Perhaps if you considered doing good deeds, as Christ instructed us, rather than venting your rage, you would be happier people, and more capable of moral analytical thought.

I leave you with these words from the King James Bible to ponder: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Edward White| 12.20.12 @ 9:35AM

Anna,

The readers of American Spectator do not truly believe abortion is murder. They are using this as a wedge issue—a wedge issue that defeated the Republican candidate in our presidential election and sent Obama into the president’s seat for another term.

A “murder” is an action that involves the intentional killing of an innocent human life which is a "person." This is the essential element of the whole definition. If the innocent human life which is intentionally killed does not constitute a person, then no "murder" has been committed.

And what is "personhood"? Some ethicists list more than a dozen criteria for defining "personhood." But there are just three which are absolutely necessary: "consciousness," "self-awareness," and "memory."

Consciousness is an awareness of the body.

Self-awareness is the ability to distinguish the environment from the self.

Memory is self-awareness of the past.

It takes a brain—a mature, fully-functioning brain-- to have consciousness, self-awareness, and memory. Without a brain, there is no personhood.

No brain is present in a fetus during the first few weeks of pregnancy, and consequently the fetus has no personhood. It takes many weeks for cells to become transformed into neurons, for these neurons to connect with other neurons, for synapses to form, and for the central nervous system to develop.

Edward White| 12.20.12 @ 9:35AM

Abortion is not murder. But as you point out, readers of AmSpec claim that abortion is murder. But—and this is ironic-- have made it clear that they would not object to the murder of our president. Christians? I should say not. But the one thing I must say is this: We must vigorously continue to oppose anti-abortion laws because these laws are unconstitutional. Every woman must have the right to control her own body.

Goldwater Girl| 12.20.12 @ 9:42AM

If a woman wants to control her body, does she not have the capacity to avoid unprotected sex? Perhaps conservatives just believe that abortion should not be a birth control method.

CJW| 12.20.12 @ 9:43AM

Murder is a legal conclusion. Abortion is the killing of an unborn child, but the killing is permitted by law so it is not murder. However, the law prohibits the killing of an unborn child, except for abortion, under the statute "Homicide of an Unborn Child."

Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 6:43PM

This really hangs them up as it proves it is really murder as a criminal who kills a woman who is pregnant is charged with two murders or homicides, they want you to forget that.
So, what is it, a person in one circumstance and in the other it is not? So, it is Ok for her to kill it but not the criminal.
Shows just how sick, insane, and contradictory this society has become. Nice catch, CJW, and good holiday to you as well.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 10:34AM

Don't put 99% of the people who post here into a box with a bloviating jackass who makes hollow threats against public officials.

If I follow your lack of logic, then maybe we should assume you support killing NRA members, as some liberals apparently desire based on their Tweets??

You're a fool.

Tom Kyba| 12.20.12 @ 11:21AM

Hello fake Christians. Thank you for so transparently pretending to care about decency and civility when anyone with two synapses to rub together can see beyond your faux sadness at the coarseness of this site. The real shame and sadness comes from reading such self-serving nonsense from supposed adults. Since all of us posting here remember the insane vitriol posted anywhere and everywhere by your ideological brethren regarding George W. Bush and Dick Chaney etc. If, and I say this only for purposes of perspective, because we all know you aren't serious, you two must be holding your heads in inconsolable despair after investigating Daily Kos, Huffpost etc. I'm sorry, what? I don't hear anything.
If there's one thing we are used to here, it's the preening, self-serving ego stroking from the troll brigade. Your cartoon disgust is just more of the same. Shame on you again, for the transparent attempt to disgrace people here with your manufactured concern.
You are lying. Do you understand this simple action? Pretending you are saddened, pretending you care about civility when you don't, pretending to be rational people who are posting here to bring a little sanity to us nuts?
Grow up! You are adults now(presumably). And take your little star-chamber hate detection facade back to misanthrope headquarters whence it came.
Please, someone save me from liberals posting on these sites with invented personalities and two-faced philosophies.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 12:13PM

Maybe if Anna K. wanted to REALLY prove her dedication to fighting "hate-speech" she could spend some time trolling pro-Muslim websites??

Tony frm Staten Island| 12.20.12 @ 12:46PM

I read Anna and Edward White's posts, and then I reread them.

I see nothing to criticize in their posts. And I agree with Anna that readers should have reacted to TLP's response indicating he would approve Obama's assassination.

Actually, I read Ed White's post three times, and I think he has made a valid point about abortion. A fetus lacks the criteria to be a "person."

They may be trolls, but they have something valuable to contribute, and I don't think we should dismiss them so easily.

Yes, I am a conservative, and a frequent reader of American Spectator, though I rarely respond to a piece.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 2:23PM

You're new here.

Nobody knows who you are; you have no posting history.

But of course...you're a Conservative! How convenient!

You're either Anna K. or one of her brainwashed students. Either way, you're utterly wrong, and so is Anna K.

Anna is another misguided soul who thinks Christianity = Liberalism/socialism.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 4:29PM

Dr.;

Usually, the pattern is, high up on the thread, "Anna K. from Emory U." posts her screed, and then her students or Ed White sign on to agree with her with comment, and to add what a vile, hate-filled site this is. Quite frequently, they use the same pattern in their posting names (e.g. Helen H. from Portland), though I must say that in my observation, most spell "from" correctly.

KennesawJack| 12.20.12 @ 1:06PM

Tom, if that isn't the best retort to the sanctimonius bovine excrement we have to put up with from the Kumbya crowd, I don't know what is. Bravo!

Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 6:48PM

Tom,
Excellent, you have a way with words...and express yourself well.

CJW| 12.20.12 @ 9:52AM

Total BS. Your opinions about personhood means squat legally. You kill an unborn child,except for abortion, and you will be prosecuted:

This is the law in Pa and many other states:

18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2603

Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated Statutes Currentness
Title 18 Pa.C.S.A. Crimes and Offenses
Part II. Definition of Specific Offenses
Article B. Offenses Involving Danger to the Person
Chapter 26. Crimes Against Unborn Child
§ 2603. Criminal homicide of unborn child

(a) Offense defined.--An individual commits criminal homicide of an unborn child if the individual intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or negligently causes the death of an unborn child in violation of section 2604 (relating to murder of unborn child) or 2605 (relating to voluntary manslaughter of unborn child).

(b) Classification.--Criminal homicide of an unborn child shall be classified as murder of an unborn child or voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child.

CREDIT(S)

1997, Oct. 2, P.L. 379, No. 44, § 2, effective in 180 days.

18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2603, PA ST 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2603

CJW| 12.20.12 @ 9:56AM

And, so you are not confused, the definition in the statute of an unborn child is :

"Unborn child” and “fetus.” Each term shall mean an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth."

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 10:31AM

Wrong, on many counts.

Abortion IS the killing (murder) of an unborn child.

There is NO logical argument that can be made against this ironclad, factual statement.

You are a person; if your mother had aborted you, you would have died, and would still be dead today, regardless of when the brain develops, consciousness begins, etc, etc...all nonsensical drivel designed to make people who kill their babies, people who help other people to kill their babies, and people who support/profit form the killing of other people's babies feel better about what they euphemistically call "choice."

I don't really care what "some ethicists" think about abortion; if their great brains lead them to the illogical conclusion that abortion is anything more than the taking of a human life, then they're fools.

The only difference between a baby that's born and a baby that's killed (aborted) is that the former is wanted, and the latter is not.

Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 3:45PM

You are just as much as an idiot as your fellow troll, Anna, and a liar. Your statements are so full of falsehoods it is is difficult to know where to start. Abortions are carried out throughout pregnancy not just in the first two weeks, and you damn well know that. They are performed well beyond the full development of a functioning brain that feels pain and is aware of pain. Scientific fact and has been observed. You apparently do not have a functioning brain, shall we abort you?
This bullshit you are peddling about a woman's body and her rights to do whatever she wants with it is nonsense. First, the baby within is a separate human being and a separate distinct being with unique DNA, distinct brain, organs, and impulses, it is not a hangnail or appendage of the mother. Second, people who might request their legs be removed for no reason but inconvenience would be refused and locked up for mental illness. Suicide is still illegal and consider a crime and requires intervention from police and the community which intervenes to stop it and requires mental health treatment. You are a moron that has done nothing but accept the horsecrap that your professors and universities peddle and repeat it.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 10:36AM

And I pray that you will come down off of your left-leaning, liberal Christian pedestal (FYI, all the good works in the world won't get you into Heaven) and actually READ the Bible to understand what it means.

Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 3:48PM

She is not a christian of any kind, she is a liar and an atheist that is jerking your chains....your chains as she sees it.

Cat Shot| 12.20.12 @ 10:37AM

I’ll give you “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”. Otherwise, we’ll see how much love you have in your heart when the van filled with warm sandwiches fails to magically appear because Obama has crushed the makers that provided it. Has it occurred to you that there would be far fewer homeless to feed if Obama would take his boot off the neck of capitalism so it could return to the job creating machine it has proven to be in the past? Is it possible that TLPs “hate speech” is directed at the man who is destroying the nation and the people he LOVES? Did God put you in charge of determining when life begins so you could decide killing children was “worse” than killing the unborn? If you’re a professor at Emory you’re part of the problem. If you’re a student, close your mouth, open your eyes and ears, engage your atrophied brain, and learn something.

JmsA| 12.20.12 @ 12:42PM

Eloquently stated, CS.

Anthony| 12.20.12 @ 11:20AM

Dear "Professor" Anna K.; Congratulations, having read the cant from your no doubt prized student Anna Maria, you have managed a superb job of indoctrination. No doubt, your fellow academic leftists at Emory are proud of your efforts in moral and intelletual bankruptcy.
Tell us Professor, have you engaged Anna Maria in any discussions of what she might have discerned about conservativism, having read TAS?
Have you challanged her to compare conservativism to leftism and to reach an independent analysis?
Your smug condescension of TLP notwithstanding, tell us, does your haughty faux Christian value set tell you Obozo is guilty of being an accessory to murder of two American agents because he and Holder deliberately armed Mexican drug cartels?
Does your moral outrage extend to Obozo's and Hillary's vile lies about what killed the Ambassador and four other Americans in Benghazi?
I'm glad you'll be working a homeless shelter on Christmas Eve, unfortunately for your students like Anna Maria, you should have made this your full time job. It's too late for her.

Petronius| 12.20.12 @ 12:46PM

If you want an end to bitterness then leave us to conduct Our Lives as WE want without any hindrance from YOU.

cowgirl| 12.20.12 @ 8:58PM

Please do not preach to anyone on this board about Christianity. You cannot support Abortion and be a Christian.

Futhermore: It takes two cells, each one containing 23 chromosomes to create a human being. This takes place at conception in the womb. If you abort the baby in the womb via abortion, you are killing a human being.

Undisputable fact.

Second, if abortion is Constitutional, then my religious beliefs which are against abortion, gay marriage and partaking in illict drug use, have to be acknowledged since the Constitution says I have freedom of religion. You cannot force me to pay for abortions, accept gay marriage and the legalization of illict drugs.
Period. End of Discussion.

CJW| 12.20.12 @ 9:41AM

Anna

Nobody here is calling for the killing of anyone, except for the abortionists who regularly applaud the killing of unborn childdren, and refer to them as a glob of protoplasm.

Could you please post for us a copy of the comments you and your students made when during the era of the evil George W Bush the left made comments, and I believe a movie, about the assasination of Pres Bush, and comparing him to Hitler.

Also, what lefty or other websites do you and your students monitor for what you believe is hate speech? May I suggest MSNBC when they talk about ripping out Cheney's heart, or feeding eggs to Justice Thomas so he dies of a heart attack, or Billy Maher when he calls conservative women the C word.

Merry Christmas.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 10:08AM

CJW;

It is comical since Anna and Edward White (aka Ed White, aka Engle) post in tandem, and generally attempt to provoke hate.

Perhaps Miss K. should consult her Bible about humility (see O'Hannigan's article), and the private nature of charity. Those who try to broadcast how charitable and compassionate they are seem to quite frequently be neither.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 10:41AM

Presumably, this "student" (a friend of yours?) who monitors AmSpec for "hate speech" is also monitoring websites such as "DailyKOS.com," where angry, vitrioloic, and hateful denunciations of Conservatives and Christians are a regular occurrence?

Or is her "outrage" selective?

And Anna...THANK GOD for your innate goodness and WONDERFUL intentions towards the downtrodden! You are such a GOOD PERSON, it's no wonder you want everyone to know about it!

Reminds me of a verse from the Bible:

Matthew 6:
1 "Take care! Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired, because then you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. 2 When you give a gift to someone in need, don't shout about it as the hypocrites do -- blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I assure you, they have received all the reward they will ever get. 3 But when you give to someone, don't tell your left hand what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.

Goldwater Girl| 12.20.12 @ 11:11AM

Excellent comment!

PolishKnight| 12.20.12 @ 10:58AM

Excuse me.

Hahahahahahaha! Oh, hahahaha!

I googled Anna K and got a bunch of hits and apparently it's a pseudonym for a professor running a (taxpayer funded) right-wing research project.

On Christmas Eve, she probably will be drinking box wine out of plastic cups out of her faculty office and thankful that affirmative action doesn't require her to compete with white males for the position. I highly doubt she'll be helping the homeless. Academic liberals are notorious hypocritical elites.

Happy holidays and don't forget to say hello to campus security!

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 11:39AM

If you want an interesting project, google "Anna K. from Emory U." AND "Ed White" or "Edward White". As I noted elsewhere, they travel in tandem, etc.

Later today, expect the post from the student who is horrified by "the Hate" here, who promises to never come back again.

What is unusual is that usually the Students only come here when class is in session. I suppose the appearance here today is our Christmas gift (or, for the more secular- A Festivus Miracle!).

fmm| 12.20.12 @ 12:07PM

I really feel sorry for that "student" since he has to put up with the misguided thoughts which exude from your head - note I did not say brain.

And maybe you should actually read Lord's article which does not equate abortion with the massacre of school children, even though both are murder, but indicates that the ideology which supports the former leads to the latter.

Anthony| 12.20.12 @ 12:40PM

Dear Ms. Anna K. aka Vigilante, your drivil, and that of your "prized student", has led me to the conclusion that what you really need on Christmas Eve is for Santa to stuff your stocking.

JmsA| 12.20.12 @ 12:50PM

I come from a place where we had institutions where people, like you, monitored others' thoughts and activities. They were called "CDR" or Committees for Defense of the Revolution." More often than not, those spied on ended up in work camps, if not worse.

And by the way, you're not the only volunteering at homeless shelters or shelters for abused women. I've been doing it for 20 years, as well as worked with NGOs overseas.

JmsA| 12.20.12 @ 12:54PM

The above was directed at the Kommissar from Emory University.

KennesawJack| 12.20.12 @ 1:11PM

Anna, why do I think you and your friend are going to restrict your nightime soiree to midtown and the north side of downtown? Why not try a little trip to southwest Atlanta or, better yet, hang out around south Whitehall Street for awhile? You won't go there, will you. Oh, and would you please send me a copy of the missive you sent to Nina Toteberg at NPR. You know, the one where you excoriated her for wishing that Jesse Helms and all his children would die from aids.

KennesawJack| 12.20.12 @ 1:16PM

And by the way, the passage from the King James Version you quote has a newer, generally accepted translation, to wit; "and Peace on Earth to men of good will." not "Peace on Earth and goodwill to men." Big difference, wouldn't you say? You should try the newer tranlsation on some of your Muslim friends at Emory. Might do some good.

Jeff| 12.20.12 @ 1:33PM

Anna....

Calling love for an unborn child...which modern technology fully documents as being alive...is demented?

It sounds to me like you hate. Not a good thing. I didn't see the comment you cite but if accurately cited I unequivocally condemn it...I worked for a president who was shot and it is no laughing matter...although I do recall at the time reports of some who cheered.

Anna, dividing people by category as to who deserves status as a human being and who does not is exactly what led to both slavery and the holocaust. I will have no part of it.

Tony frm Staten Island| 12.20.12 @ 4:23PM

Alive?

I think you mean "alive" in the sense that protoplasm is alive.

A fetus in the first trimester is not a living being with a brain. Reread Edward White's post.

Stkman| 12.20.12 @ 1:49PM

Anna from Emory U states, "I thank God that instead of harboring hatred, I have love in my heart".
You're a liar Anna. Your only purpose here is to spew your own version of hatred. We've seen your kind before. You think that you can win us with your way of words or an elegant writing style, but we know you, and we know who and what you are. You are the one we have been warned about since we were little children. You are the tool of Satan. Anna, we know you. You and those like you are the ones who want to destroy the Constitution and re-write it to please only you and those like you.
Looking for "hate" speech. Liar, you and your friends are looking for free speech that has an opposing view of what you want.

Stkman| 12.20.12 @ 1:51PM

Yes Anna, we know you and your tricks are no longer new. You and your type have had your way long enpough. The next three years will be the last that you have to try and take us down. Know this though, we see you and we are ready for you. Please, bring it on, we aren't afraid of liars like you.

Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 3:26PM

It has been about a year or so, but I remember you, Anna, the liberal useful idiot student at Emory.
At that time the christian thing was not being used in your obvious untruthful and manipulative comments and trolling. So now you are going to lecture the readers here about anger, Christianity, and hatred. Rich and ripe with the usual lame, tired, and old and typical liberal ruses. Anna, it is not new or original. Anna, Anna, twisted moral reasoning allows you to call an unborn baby a fetus worth killing for inconvenience. Twisted moral reasoning allows you to use religion and christian values to justify not only this but class hatred, gay marriage, sexual perversions, and a whole host of horrors. Yeah, you have love in your heart. Decency love, mercy, compassion. Unbelievable. You have a no clue about any of those attributes.
Your messiah just ran the most negative, lying, anger filled, slanderous, revengeful (his own words), hateful campaign in American history. God? You thank, God? That was the most outrageous statement of all of your drivel. You better hope and 'pray' there is no God.
Why not just use the racist label, that seems to work well and leave it at that?

CJW| 12.20.12 @ 10:05AM

Albert

I see your fan club is here spreading Christmas cheer.

The premise of the Dred Scott decision was that a black slave was not a person. Had the court followed the federal statutes at issue it would have ruled in Scott's favor. However the Court took it upon itself to "interpret" the statute by defining a black slave as personal property and not a person, therby substituting its judgment for that of Congress. Sort of like the evolving constitution of penumbras and emanations. The effect of this decsion was to frustrate the will of Congress and spur the abolitionist movement, and lead to the war.

The Roe/Casey decisions use the same premise that an unborn child is not a person worthy of legal protection in abortion. Look at the comments here, that an unborn child is not a person, no memory, a blob of protoplasm, blah, blah. Same reasoning as Scott. Further, these decisions have removed the abortion issue from the state's legislatures to deal with.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 10:12AM

Though chronologically out of order, don't be surprised if the legislation which follows the Connecticut massacre of innocents by the 20 year old college student is mired in controversial provisions in a way which resembles The Fugitive Slave Act.

G.S. Patton| 12.20.12 @ 8:32AM

I can't think of a more stark contrast, than Saul Alinsky and Robert Bork. One sought to incorporate "any means necessary to an end," by infecting the process. The other wrote of the "absolutes" necessary to retain the framework for a free society to govern itself in regard to the rule of law. Control rods in a nuclear reactor come to mind in reference to our conscience, and these "absolutes" .... and as they are slowly removed or the material becomes corrupt and spent, they lose their effectiveness at controlling the process. Robert Bork was a concrete road block to the progressive pursuit of enlightenment (delusion ?) and had to be destroyed in text book Alinsky fashion. Over the last four years, we have truly seen these "control rods" completely removed, and the reactor is going critical. The rule of law is now truly "relative," to the desired political outcome; and the means to and end.

Von Mises Jr| 12.20.12 @ 9:17AM

It is instructive to view good versus evil in the Bork Hearings and the Clarence Thomas Hearings.
Edward Kennedy, a truly despicable man that killed Mary Jo Kopechne in drunken a stupor, fled the scene and tried to use his family name to avoid the blame attacked a fine and upstanding Judge Robert Bork.
Two decades later Joe Biden whom is perhaps as despicable as Kennedy attacked the fine Judge Clarence Thomas leading to a heated exchange that may have secured Judge Thomas his seat when he likened Biden and his colleague’s tactics to a "high-tech lynching."
With Southern slavery, progressivism over a century that is fascism, and the likes of Clinton and Obama that are the gift that keep on giving evil (Sub-prime "redlining" under Reno, Loral Space Technology transfer, lost Nuclear Secrets at Los Alamos to "Fast and Furious," and Benghazi gate).
During this Christmas Season I will pray for my Country. I believe that the problem is not just a corrupt and broken DC. The people have become defective, at least half of them anyway.

Nancy in NC| 12.20.12 @ 9:24AM

We do get the kind of government we deserve.

The people have become defective in so many ways: lazy, dishonest, and stupid...all by choice.

I will join you in prayer. It's our best chance.

Al Adab| 12.20.12 @ 1:58PM

Let us take a mental balance scale. On one tray we have Ted Kennedy and on the other Robert Bork. To which side might the balance of justice fall?

Peppermint Tea | 12.20.12 @ 9:20AM

I wished Reagan would have campaigned for him. Perhaps Lord can explain why he didn't.
I further wished Reagan would have renominated him a month later after most of America realized the travesty.

Jeff| 12.20.12 @ 9:36AM

Peppermint Tea....

I can explain exactly. First, as explained, what was being done to Bork was new. While two Nixon nominees had been denied, the organized ferocity around Bork was something that was not expected or understood correctly. Secondly, Reagan's chief of staff was former Senator Baker. A very good man, one of the best, alas as a former Senator he had great respect for the Senate as an institution and essentially treated all of this by trusting in his colleagues' judgment. He was unwilling to do anything that could be taken as a presidential interference on senatorial perogative. It was a mistake - a big one. But hard to see at the time. In retrospect Reagan should have done exactly what you suggested. The lesson was learned...and when Bush 43 appointed Roberts and particularly Alito - bringing all the Borking forces to bear - Alito was tenaciously supported in the way Bork was not. And it worked.

Lesson learned - the hard way. And, I'm afraid, at Bork's expense.

fmm| 12.20.12 @ 12:14PM

"He was unwilling to do anything that could be taken as a presidential interference on senatorial perogative."

Would it not be wonderful if the current POTUS thought this way. But that would require class and an understanding of the Constitution.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 12:23PM

Jeff;

It looks like you now have been tagged by "Anna K. from Emory U." and her sycophantic followers. I guess you can tell Mark Tooley that he is no longer IT.

Peppermint Tea | 12.20.12 @ 9:22AM

Bork's Slouching to Gomorrah was IMO a better book. That really called the liberal Washington elite to repentance.

Here's hoping Judge Bork can watch the Train Wreck from an eternal vantage point.

Anthony| 12.20.12 @ 9:35AM

A giant of a man brought down by the corrupt moral & intellectual pigmy's of the left, Kennedy and Biden, with the help of the reprehensible Arlen Specter.
Judge Bork was precient in so many ways, his book "Slouching towards Gomorrah" predicted the demise of America by our own decadence and the failures of our political leaders.
Little did Judge Bork know when he wrote "Slouching", that America's demise would come at the hands of a Kenyan Muslim Marxist, annointed by a feeble minded electorate to destroy America.
Unfortunately, Judge Bork lived long enough to see the re-election of America's destroyer.
Meanwhile, Ted Kennedy presides as mayor of Gomorrah now located in the bowels of Hell. The population of Gomorrah, unlike many American cities, will continue to grow at a rapid rate.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 10:15AM

I have commented previously that had Judge Bork actually been able to see the speed with which what he was predicting was now occurring, he would have changed the verb in the title from "Slouching" to "Sprinting".

Petronius| 12.20.12 @ 12:58PM

A C
As water seeks its own level, so does sewage. Springing requires active effort and most attempt little or none. But they have great coaches: Ted Kennedy, Larry Flyntt, the Clintons, and the Person of the Year.

Petronius| 12.20.12 @ 12:59PM

Sorry for the typo; "sprinting."

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 1:26PM

That was my sole hesitation in selecting the more active verb, in that but for the increased velocity, slouching is a more accurate description of the posture, and "Tumbling end over end and out of control towards Gomorrah" would require additional space, and still not necessarily capture the level of Sloth about which I think we both (along with Judge Bork, I believe) concur. Perhaps I may modify it to "Sauntering Lazily to Gomorrah" if I bring it up again.

Petronius| 12.20.12 @ 3:44PM

Not trying to split manure piles, as the paths of our lives are now littered with the droppings of the supine herd. The sheeple of the United States are usually adrift until they are pushed. (They really should get punched but that effort would be wasted.) Could we not settle on Meandering? And look out for their rejecta, lest you step in it unwittingly. Would that the great Master, H.L. Mencken were here to add his superb invective. Though we cannot speak for him, he got it slightly wrong. He stated that the day would come for us when an absolute moron would occupy the Presidential chair. We now suffer as an infantile army of morons saddle Us with the worst sort of despot. And I don't excuse the dupe signing herself Anna K lightly either. Or maybe she's standing in for Perp today.

Goldwater Girl| 12.20.12 @ 9:36AM

guess what Anna? We don't give a shit what your Christmas plans are. Carry on in your Ivory tower!

Anna Maria Phi Beta Kappa| 12.20.12 @ 10:13AM

Professor Anna K. is too dignified to engage in ugly dialogue.

I am the student conducting her hate speech research, and I must say that among our excellent faculty here at Emory, the professor is one of its most illustrious luminaries.

Her energy is awesome. She is engaged in various capacities in all of the progressive campus organizations, and she is an activist who never tires. My roommate refers to her as a "workhorse on roller skates."

She is my mentor, and I am so grateful for her guidance. I came to Emory as a naive South Georgia girl, but under her tutelage I have blossomed into one of Emory's most progressive activists.

Anthony| 12.20.12 @ 10:54AM

So "Professor" Anna K has you monitoring TAS for hate speech. Is that what your parents are spending $50,000 a year to send you to Emory for?
Pity, if you've been reading TAS these many months, Ms. Anna Maria, you apparently have learned nothing about conservativism. Nor apparently, have you opened yourself up to the fact that your leftist hegemony is one huge intellectual FRAUD.
To not understand the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of leftism, having monitored TAS, only demonstrates to me you have no capacity for independent thought.
You may indeed be a Phi Betta Kappa, probably in Women's Studies, but you are woefully ignorant and void of the capacity for intellectual growth.
I'm afraid your Emory education has been one huge waste of time and money.
You are the classic product of today's leftist academic indoctrination that has ruined minds such as yours.

Petronius| 12.20.12 @ 12:52PM

A
It's probably being paid for with grant, (our) money. Trolls like this make me proud I do not have one of Their degrees.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 10:58AM

In other words, she's your typical leftist "activist" masquerading as a Christian.

If she was genuine, her goal would be to mold you into a dedicated, faithful, believing Christian - NOT a "progressive activist."

In short, Anna K. is a small-minded hypocrite. A false teacher, who has her hooks in you.

Run.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 11:08AM

There's no "Anna K" (last name unknown) listed in the Candler School of Theology (Emory University) faculty roster.

Another libby fraud?

http://www.candler.emory.edu/a...../index.cfm

Anna Maria Phi Beta Kappa| 12.20.12 @ 11:32AM

Anna K. is, of course, a moniker; this is not the professor's name.

We do not post our real names for security reasons. From having perused this site for the past six months, it is obvious to me that many posters are mentally unhinged--TPL and Frank Drackman, to name just two.

Back to my studies. Signing off for today.

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 12:18PM

Study hard! Maybe when you graduate with a degree in leftist drivel you can get a job at the Gap!

Anthony| 12.20.12 @ 12:28PM

Now I'm convinced you're a fraud. O.K. dearie, actually, once you get to know Frank Drackman, he's a peach of a guy.
And judging from your comments, Frank has exactly the right stuff that you've been missing and what you sorely need.

KennesawJack| 12.20.12 @ 1:20PM

Damned if I know who TPL is and, as for Frank, the guy is genius! Mentally unhinged? Try looking into a mirror, sweetheart. Kennesaw "don't be dissing on Frank Drackman" Jack

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 3:15PM

They created TPL, spewed obscenity all over the thread, and then come back a couple of days later to complain about what they wrote.

Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 3:57PM

Guess what, if this were real she would be using her real name and not a moniker and her university would be sanctioning this activity under that name.
If Sowell can identify himself and use his real name and identity and give his opinions on various matters, so can she, and her university would require it. Yeah, back to your mothers basement.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 11:33AM

I believe it is Katherine Vigilante in the Political Science Department from prior research, but she has yet to confess that this is correct.

CrackerHound| 12.20.12 @ 11:31AM

When only leftist are defining "hate speech'", it is more correctly labeled "abridgedment of the First Amendment".

All speech that leftists disagree with would be on their impromtu lists as something that should be outlawed under the pretext of incitement or civil rights violations. There is no such thing as hate speech in the Constitution, there is only freedom of speech. Get used to it you Maoist, pseudo-dictator wannabe.

Anna Maria Phi Beta Kappa will be the perfect, traitorous informer for the state that rats out neighbors and friends when the marxist red cloud finally envelops America...(with full support of about 47% of the population)

Tom Kyba| 12.20.12 @ 11:39AM

Again. Stop lying. This is not a liberal website. Posters like you who pretend to be someone they're not are not going to be believed just because they wish it so. Grow up.

fmm| 12.20.12 @ 12:20PM

I would laugh at your comment if it were not so tragic. And today, having PBJ after your name is no better than being a Nobel peace prize winner.

fmm| 12.20.12 @ 12:21PM

hmmm J = K

JmsA| 12.20.12 @ 12:56PM

Don't flatter yourself; you're just another Kommissar.

JmsA| 12.20.12 @ 12:57PM

The above was meant for the Anna Maria, the regressive progressive.

Jacob McCandles| 12.20.12 @ 10:46AM

Bork seems like he was a pretty smart guy, but he's no Elena Kagan.

fmm| 12.20.12 @ 12:21PM

Amen to that.

Cat Shot| 12.20.12 @ 10:55AM

Anna, you're going to leave Emory as a naive South Georgia girl with a big student loan and no way to pay it back if you don't get serious about your education while you have the chance. We can't all spend our days marching and chanting - someone has to acquire some smarts and do some work if we're to survive as a nation. As the father of two girls, only one of whom was successful at higher education, I can say with the benefit of first hand observation: Put as much distance as you can between yourself and this Jane Fonda wannabe, grow up, and make yourself useful!

Al Adab| 12.20.12 @ 11:10AM

After reading through most of the posts above I can understand why Bork titled his book "Slouching Toward Gomorrah", we have arrived.

In point of fact though I wonder if we are not resident in Carthage where the sacrifice of children was accepted as worship. Perhaps the goddess Choice is happy with the millions sacrificed in her name.

If six million defines a holocaust, what does 55 million define?

Who Knows?| 12.20.12 @ 11:21AM

The laugh is on the USA for what was done to Bork.

Ronsch| 12.20.12 @ 12:58PM

The courts in most states have already declared a "fetus" to be a human being by virtue of laws for murder.

To wit: A criminal who stabs, shoots, strangles, or otherwise murders a pregnant woman is charged with homicide twice. Once for the pregnant mother and the second for the "unborn baby/fetus" (take your pick of terms. )

Judge Bork had the right of it...The US has truly sunk to a lowly legal state.

vigilant| 12.20.12 @ 1:15PM

R.I.P. Judge Bork. I hope I'll be able to tell you someday how much I admire you. I can think of someone who was reviled even more than you were, and He will be the judge of your life, as well as Ted Kennedy's. I find much satisfaction in that thought.

Tom Kyba, you had me grinning by the time I finished your most excellent description of "Anna" and her ilk. You nailed them perfectly. And, Dr. Right, you lived up to your name today. From everything I've read, God doesn't have a high opinion of self-righteous, condescending sneering. I feel sorry for the young heads-full-of-mush under Anna's thrall. Since God is not mocked and we reap what we sow, I wouldn't want to experience what they're going to during their misguided lives. And "Anna" will be held even more accountable for her abuse of the authority she had over impressionable, ignorant young minds.

Jeffrey, I really enjoy your articles. To your credit, you're clearly struggling with your loyalty to your church, and for good reason. Your candor in sharing the growing cognitive dissonance between your core beliefs and their religiosity is appreciated. Godspeed as you continue your journey of exploring a relationship with God versus religion, which is all-too-prevalent in the so-called Church today.

Jack London| 12.20.12 @ 1:23PM

As Edward Kennedy put it:

“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, [and] writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government.”

It's no wonder you far-right freaks miss him.

Jeff| 12.20.12 @ 1:38PM

And this, Jack, was a lie.

I met Ted Kennedy, and I liked him. But this was a dreadful, poisonous performance...leaving himself open, of course, with that very first line to others recalling who actually led a woman to her death and left her...It was sad. And in part launched the reaction that would later impeach Bill Clinton.

Al Adab| 12.20.12 @ 2:00PM

Sad to see an otherwise intelligent person like Mr. London take Sen. Kennedys' diatribe as gospel truth.

Anthony| 12.20.12 @ 2:25PM

Jack, More women died in Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile than in Robert Bork's America.
And speaking of rogue police, midnight raids, and censorship, the new politics of the Muslim Marxist, aren't you applying to be one of Obozo's jackbooted Civilian Army members?

Doctor Right| 12.20.12 @ 2:28PM

As Doctor Right puts it:

Ted Kennedy was a scum-bag of the highest order. He was a liar and a morally reprehensible creep who harassed, molested, and abused women. In that regard, he was no different than the rest of the Kennedy men, including John F., who was a narcissist, a serial adulterer, and a rapist.

It's no wonder you far-left morons idolize them.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.20.12 @ 3:13PM

Let me see if I can tweak this for you, Mr. London:

Barack Obama’s America is a land in which people would be forced to pay for contraception and abortions , blacks would vote as a segregated bloc, rogue terrorists would shoot down soldiers on and off military bases, predator drones would kill citizens in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught , [and] writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government [have you seen “The Innocence of Muslims” producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula lately(outside of federal prison, I mean.)]

Hardcard| 12.20.12 @ 1:54PM

Dear Jack.... I hope you join your champion; fat dead drunken ted soon. I'm sure you'll be happy there shoveling and stoking the furnaces with him, also you can say Hi to alot of other kennedys and other abortionists. Keep it real tough guy. I don't think that letter to the Pope before the drunken murderer went to meet satan.

Petronius| 12.20.12 @ 3:55PM

H
I'm on the membership committee of Hell. Ted is still on the floor unable to get to the bar because Bella Abzug is sitting on his face.

Hardcard| 12.20.12 @ 1:55PM

cont. did him any good.

cicero| 12.20.12 @ 2:56PM

Two comments. One of the more interesting things about the Dredd Scott decision is that it reversed all of the lower court rulings. All of the lower courts had ruled in Scott's favor. Taney reversed all of them. Taney is the prototype for the modern liberal judge. That is why the Left puts so much emphasis on the judicial branch of government. No majority would ever vote for the positions taken by these Solomons.

The big leap came when the courts began to merge law with equity. As long as they were kept separate, there was some structure to the American system. Once merged, everything became a matter for the discretion for judicial interpretation of the meaning of the law. What had been the clear meaning of the law became subject to interpretation by the judge. As I have said before, our judicial branch has done more damage to the fabric and culture of theis once great nation than any other source of pressure.

John II| 12.20.12 @ 3:29PM

One addendum to Mr. Lord's informative piece on the late Robert Bork, apropos as well of the intermittent troll-comments on this thread.

Bork was a passionate lefty in his youth. But during his training in law school at Chicago, he encountered arguments that he could not and would not ignore--and, redolent of St. Paul putting aside childish ways, gradually Bork discarded his leftism as essentially juvenile.

If I may claim some casual expertise on this matter after more than 40 years of teaching more than 6,000 undergraduates, very few people of strong political passions get beyond the ideas they settle into by about age nineteen. Bork was one of those few: a sure-enough serious thinker.

Joellen| 12.20.12 @ 7:06PM

Wow, got here late tonight. All I can say is it is such an honor to be on the side of CJW, Albert, Nancy in NC; Goldwater Girl, Stkman, Al Adab, Vigilant Simon, Dr. Right, Kennesaw Jack, Petronius, Peppermint Tea, Von Mises Jr, Cat Short, Polish Knight, Anthony, G.S. Patton and any of you who I accidently left out who replied to the deceivers with such eloquence and courage in your conservative and patriotic conviction.

I believe you've all made the Honorable Judge Bork proud tonight.

God Bless you and God Bless Judge Bork.

sdfhlk | 12.20.12 @ 10:59PM

Merry Christmas to you 2012.

Rhoetus| 12.24.12 @ 8:19PM

Merry Christmas to one and all, God Bless.

Michele San Pietro| 1.6.13 @ 10:00AM

Bork was a great American and a great conservative.

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