Robert Bork: Sotomayor Unqualified, Isn't 'Entirely Governed by Law'

NewsMax ^ | July 14, 2009 | By: Jim Meyers

[Jim Robinson]

Legal scholar and former U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork tells Newsmax he doesn't believe court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's assertion that she is "entirely governed by law," as he believes she should be.

In an exclusive interview, he also said Sotomayor, who's going through confirmation hearings before a Senate panel, should be disqualified from consideration because of a statement she made.

And Bork stated that the Roe v. Wade decision has been the "most dangerous" the Supreme Court has ever made because it has "embittered our politics."

See Video: Judge Robert Bork discusses Sonia Sotomayor and the Senate hearings - Click Here Now

Bork was solicitor general and was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals before President Ronald Reagan nominated him for the Supreme Court in 1987. The Democratic Senate rejected his nomination after a contentious debate, and the seat on the bench eventually went to Anthony Kennedy.

Newsmax.TV's Ashley Martella observed that Bork's "savaging by the left" forever changed the way judges are confirmed, with politics and demographics becoming more important than competence and qualifications.

"That's entirely true," said Bork, whose latest book is "A Time to Speak — Selected Writings and Arguments."

"But the Supreme Court has only itself to blame for that. The Supreme Court made itself, starting in the 1950s, into an increasingly political institution, and once you're a political institution with that kind of power, people are going to fight to control the institution any way they can.

"In my case, I think the trigger was the fear that I might vote to overrule Roe against Wade."

Martella asked whether Sotomayor's statement that a Latina woman could make smarter decisions than a white male should have been "an immediate disqualifier."

"Yes," Bork stated...

[Piers-the-Ploughman]

Thank you Judge Bork, excellent
I have said it on FR many many times: SCOTUS is job #1 and to the extent GWB wasted political capital on Iraq and “war on terror” cost R’s the last election is a tragedy of the first order
yes I got flamed on FR for these comments but I repeat nutty muslims 5000 miles from us have done far last damage to this country compared to what the Libtards have done, so well outlined by the Judge here.

[Jacquerie]

He rightly opposes the application of the Bill of Rights to the states, and he long ago criticized the manner in which Scotus “incorporated” the BOR through the 14th Amendment’s right of due process.

Each of our fifty states have republican governments. If their people do not wish to recognize our God given rights, that is their problem.

It is a pity he does not sit on the Supreme Court.

[4Godsoloved..Hegave]

Senator Sessions email bounced on me anybody have a correct one?
Here is the one I used: senator@sessions.senate.gov

Did he give any indication how he was going to vote?

[MplsSteve]

Bork’s problem was two-fold.

One, he was entirely too forward and open in his nomination hearings. He answered the questions in a fortright manner. The liberals (Leahy, Kennedy, etc) were already suspicious of him and used a number of his statements against him. By saying that, I mean to say that his confirmation hearing remarks were deliberately taken out of context.

Two, NARAL, which carried (and still carries) considerable clout amongt Dems in the Senate was 100% convinced that Bork was gonna vote to over-turn Roe v Wade. I’m not sure what they based that on. I don’t recall Bork ever saying that he would vote that way. I believe that they took some of his previous writings in an out of cntext manner too.

There has been a long-term consequence of the savaging of Robert Bork back in ‘87. Virtually, every nominee (since then) has been evasive and virtually unresponsive when faced with a question regarding their legal philosophy. The most recent two nominees (Roberts and Sotomayor) have proved that very well. In short, it is impossible to get a feel anymore for where a nominee stands of many issues.