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The Loss of Robert Bork
The Catholic Thing ^ | Tuesday, 09 October 2012 | Hadley Arkes

Posted on 10/13/2012 2:29:01 AM PDT by GonzoII

Tuesday, 09 October 2012

The Loss of Robert Bork

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By Hadley Arkes   


The crisp chill of October has brought memories of Octobers past. Writers on law have now been noting that this month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the hearings that demeaned the U.S. Senate and denied to Robert Bork his place on the Supreme Court.

The Reagan Administration had been caught unprepared for the kinds of calumnies that were showered on this accomplished jurist and this generous, large-natured man. The Assailant-in-Chief was Sen. Edward Kennedy, first out of the box with the most unmeasured denunciation:  “Robert Borks’s America,” he said, is one in which “women would be forced into back-alley abortions.”  

Kennedy was not constrained by the fact that he knew little in detail about the cases or the principles of jurisprudence that constrained judges.  But in that respect he was more than outdone by the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, one Joseph Biden.

In facing Robert Bork, Biden would confront a former professor who had marked off for himself a strong definition as a legal “positivist.”   Positivism refers to the laws that are “posited” or enacted by people who claim the authority to have their edicts treated with the force of law.  

The tradition of natural law had always recognized the need to translate the principles of natural law into “positive regulations” that bore on the landscape and the circumstances before us. But positivism took on a different meaning when it was detached from any ground of moral truth – when lawyers and judges insisted that they found in the positive law itself the measure of right and wrong.

Faced with Bork, a strong positivist, Biden marked off for himself a strong position in natural law:

As a child of God, [he said] I believe my rights are not derived from the Constitution. My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not derived from any majority. My rights are because I exist. They were given to me and each of my fellow citizens by our creator and they represent the essence of human dignity. [Emphasis added.]

I had the occasion, several years ago in these columns, to cite those lines and to note that they cut against Biden’s position in defense of abortion. James Wilson, one of the preeminent minds among the framers of the Constitution, said that if we have natural rights, they begin when we begin to be, and that is why the common law cast its protections over human life from the first stirring in the womb.


          The Honorable Robert Bork

The contradiction made little impression on Biden, and four years later he just as readily abandoned a stance of natural law. Faced with Clarence Thomas, who took “natural rights” seriously, Biden warned that judges with that perspective would not support the regulations necessary for the economy.

Robert Bork thought that legislatures were free to protect the child in the womb because he found nothing in the Constitution that barred that authority and provided a “right to abortion.” But of course the Founders understood the Constitution as a structure of power, built on certain moral premises, not as a compendium of rights. James Wilson said that the purpose of the Constitution was not to invent new rights, but to secure and enlarge the rights we already had by nature.  And no one expected that it was possible to set down in the text all of those rights that the Constitution was meant to secure. 

Bork’s argument against abortion would not be the argument that others of us would make, arguing for the defense of the child in the womb on the moral premises marking the natural law – the same premises that underlay the Constitution itself.

But Bork, as a jurist, offered a steady example of the “laws of reason,” or the canons of logic, brought to bear on cases in law in a disciplined way. In that respect, he gave us an elegant example of how a jurisprudence of natural law could be done while professing up and down that it could not be done.  And with the same wisdom that ran beyond his theory, those powers of reasoning would later bring him into the Church even while his scoffing at natural law remained undiminished.

Other nominees to the Court have been defeated for confirmation, but none has vindicated himself as grandly as Bork, or made his adversaries look so small, as his writings drew a wider and wider audience, and his teachings gained a new army of adherents among young lawyers.

One fine lawyer and writer, Adam White, has written recently in Commentary that Bork had won: that his theory of  “originalism” had prevailed in judicial interpretation.  I’m afraid not.  It’s a longer story, but there are now too many theories of “originalism,” at war with themselves, and they are now being taken over and molded by the Left. 

And on the cases of greatest moment, such as Obamacare, “originalism” has made little difference. The sober truth of the matter is this: If Robert Bork had taken his place on the Court, Roe v Wade would have been overruled in 1992. His replacement, Anthony Kennedy, has been an active engine in extending the premises of gay rights, giving grounds for the courts to install same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and other states. And he has brought us now to the threshold of the Court imposing same-sex marriage on the country.  

Robert Bork did not win.  Every additional step by Anthony Kennedy, advancing the project of the Left, shows the continuing yield of what Joe Biden and his friends accomplished. For Biden and Co., the defeat of Robert Bork is the gift that never stops giving.

 
Hadley Arkes is the Ney Professor of Jurisprudence at Amherst College and the Director of the Claremont Center for the Jurisprudence of Natural Law in Washington. D.C. His most recent book is Constitutional Illusions & Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law.
 
© 2012 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org
 
The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

 

Other Articles By This Author



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: robertbork; scotus
I wonder what it would have been like if he...
1 posted on 10/13/2012 2:29:07 AM PDT by GonzoII
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To: GonzoII

We will never know, but on his way to heaven he had a few things to whisper into Joe Biden’s ear during last Thursday’s VP debate..


2 posted on 10/13/2012 2:55:46 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist
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To: American Constitutionalist
>>>on his way to heaven he had a few things to whisper into Joe Biden’s ear during last Thursday’s VP debate..

He's not dead.

3 posted on 10/13/2012 3:18:29 AM PDT by NELSON111
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To: NELSON111

I know, that’s what I get from only looking at the headline and not reading the whole article,, my fault, I was wrong, my bad.. sorry.


4 posted on 10/13/2012 3:24:55 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist
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To: GonzoII

The democrats are a movement of murder, just like islam, national socialism, Stalinism, Maoism and Pol Pot critters.

Bury them, before they bury us.


5 posted on 10/13/2012 3:49:13 AM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com (I will fear no muslim))
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To: American Constitutionalist

I had just skimmed through the article to see if it said Judge Bork had died! The comments cleared it up ;-).


6 posted on 10/13/2012 4:26:16 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I am relentlessly reasonable. Mrs. Don-o said so.)
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To: American Constitutionalist

Bork is not only still around, but he is the Chair of Romney’s Judicial Advisory Committee :-)

“Mitt Romney deeply understands that the rule of law and the integrity of our courts are essential components of our nation’s strength and must be preserved. He will nominate judges who faithfully adhere to the Constitution’s text, structure, and history and he will carry out the duties of President as a zealous defender of the Constitution. We fully support Mitt Romney’s campaign and look forward to working with other members of the committee as we advise him on today’s pressing legal issues.” (Judge Robert Bork in joint statement)

http://aboutmittromney.com/conservatives.htm


7 posted on 10/13/2012 4:29:06 AM PDT by Tamzee (The U.S. re-electing Obama would be like the Titanic backing up and ramming the iceberg again.)
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To: GonzoII

Me too. Edward Kennedy is rotting in hell.


8 posted on 10/13/2012 5:32:51 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: NELSON111

Robert Bork lives and writes and publishes.

Teddy the Swimmer burns in an infernal place. Forever.

“Living well is the best revenge.” - old Spanish saying


9 posted on 10/13/2012 5:33:19 AM PDT by elcid1970 ("Free speech is more important than Islam.")
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To: elcid1970

Bork believed the RKBA did not exist.
He was/is hardly a conservative.


10 posted on 10/13/2012 6:08:42 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (In the game of life, there are no betting limits)
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To: GonzoII

Another of Chappaquiddick Ted’s Great Crimes.

One can only hope that at the end of his life, he repented for the entirety of his life, as he was unrelievedly evil.


11 posted on 10/13/2012 6:15:33 AM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: GonzoII

Thanks for posting this. Robert Bork’s America is James Madison’s America. Biden’s America is Saul Alinsky’s utopia socialism.


12 posted on 10/13/2012 6:15:33 AM PDT by STJPII
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To: STJPII
"Thanks for posting this."

No problem.

13 posted on 10/13/2012 6:40:59 AM PDT by GonzoII (Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea...Quare tristis es anima mea?)
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To: Tax-chick

Even if it was true it would be sweet justice on Bork’s part to mess up Joe Biden’s performance at the VP debate.


14 posted on 10/13/2012 6:48:01 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist
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To: Tamzee
Rumor has it that even Jay Sekulow will be on that team.
I do believe that Romney was serious when he said he will pick strict constitutionalists to the supreme court.
That brings up another subject ? how come ? we have not heard much from the liberals, MSM in this election about the Supreme Court picks ? or have I been away from the news ? or do they know Obama is going to lose ?
15 posted on 10/13/2012 6:52:16 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist
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To: American Constitutionalist

Oh, I agree with that!

Still, it’s nice that he isn’t dead, especially for his family and friends.


16 posted on 10/13/2012 6:58:54 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I am relentlessly reasonable. Mrs. Don-o said so.)
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To: GonzoII; All

The real sad part is that the GOP Liberal Establishment just cowls over when a un-qualified liberal is appointed by the Democrats.

Look at Sonia Sotomayor....who is a member of, and, a lawyer for, the Hispanic Ku Klux Klan....La Raza (THE RACE). The GOP just rolled over for her...even though she is a racist and a member of a racist organization (that also promotes armed conflict with America to return US territory to Mexico)

Of course, cannot forget Sen. Hanoi John McCain and his “Gang of 14” that prevented conservative justices to be appointed to lower appellate courts, which usually forms the nucleus of future SCOTUS justices, and whose rulings usually are upheld by SCOTUS.

The GOP still continues to get “Borked” today by the Dems when it comes to Supreme Court and appellate appointments. The real tragedy of what happened to Robert Bork is that the GOP never recovered its spine afterwards


17 posted on 10/13/2012 7:31:40 AM PDT by SeminoleCounty (Political maturity is realizing that the "R" next to someone's name does not mean "conservative")
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To: American Constitutionalist

Yes, Jay Sekulow endorsed Romney way back in the beginning on the year, I think. And regarding the left being concerned about Romney’s Supreme Court picks, just google Romney and Bork. The left is terrified. Here is just one example from the Daily Kooks that mentions both Bork and Sekulow:

“ROBERT BORK AND JAY SEKULOW ARE ADVISING ROMNEY ON SCOTUS PICKS”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/25/1086232/-Robert-Bork-and-Jay-Sekulow-are-advising-Romney-on-SCOTUS-picks


18 posted on 10/13/2012 8:09:43 AM PDT by Tamzee (The U.S. re-electing Obama would be like the Titanic backing up and ramming the iceberg again.)
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