Free Republic

It’s been over a quarter-century since Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court became a defining moment in the confirmation of federal judges. Since the distinguished judge and former Yale Law professor was “borked” by demagogic personal attacks and blocked from the Court, confirmation battles have grown uglier and more protracted. John Lott, an economist who has written thought-provoking books on everything from gun control to the federal budget, says the pitched battles over court nominations are having real-world consequences. He argues that our federal courts are being intellectually degraded as politicians in both parties try to keep the brightest...

"People LOVE to watch movies together. When I look back over my decades past, through various life stages, among the common memories I remember with pleasure are the "movie nights" with old friends. I know I'm not unique in that regard. I suspect there are tens of millions around the country, just like me who have moved far enough away from the old home town to make those get-togethers with old friends implausible. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has done a masterful job of re-creating the connections between old friends. These friends might not have otherwise stepped..." (continued)

Having been a member of Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) for several years, I utilized the discontinued feature that allowed for recommending films to friends and family. Surprisingly, it went beyond expectations as it essentially made every aspect of one's rental queue available to those invited into a customer’s friends list. Most people who would want to make recommendations would probably still want some degree of privacy but it seemed to be an "all or nothing" choice. After the service was discontinued by Netflix a few years ago, it seemed as though Netflix was... (continued)

National Public Radio was quite good at historical re-enactment on Thursday night's All Things Considered. The Nina Totenberg obituary on Reagan's defeated Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork carried almost all the original liberal invective. She included then-Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales, who wrote "He looked and talked like a man who would throw the book at you, and maybe the whole country."

Yesterday the Hon. Robert Bork passed away. Bork was targeted politically and his Supreme Court nomination crushed because he was a Constitutional originalist (i.e. The Constitution means what it says in plain English based on the common sense language of the day - radical). The list of GOP Senators who voted against him is a who's-who of RINO traitors to liberty: John Chafee (RI, socialized medicine), Bob Packwood (OR, not so bad, but don't hit on your assistants outside the Oval Office), Arlen Specter (PA, wrong on nearly every issue every time. The worst GOP Senator ever), Robert Stafford (VT,...

Law: A quarter of a century ago, a good and great man was slandered to maintain liberal judicial power. It was Vice President Joe Biden, who as a senator, led the injustices committed against Judge Robert Bork. The Wednesday morning death of Bork, Ronald Reagan´s failed 1987 Supreme Court nominee, should make us think how much freer and better this country would be if Bork´s intellectual power and constitutional integrity had been present within the justices´ deliberations over the past 25 years. Had Reagan nominated Bork to replace retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1986, when Republicans

Judge Robert H. Bork, one of the the greatest jurists this country has ever produced, died early this morning from heart complications in a Virginia hospital near his home. He was 84. Bork was a national celebrity. Several years ago, my wife and I visited the Borks in Maine where they had taken a summer house off Somes Sound. I cannot count the times that total strangers would approach us at a lobster shack or park asking to shake the Judge’s hand and to assure him of their admiration and support. Bork’s celebrity was only partly conferred upon him by...

Moral liberalism and the decadence of culture. What began to concern me more and more were the clear signs of rot and decadence germinating within American society-a rot and decadence that was no longer the consequence of liberalism but was the actual agenda of contemporary liberalism. . . . Sector after sector of American life has been ruthlessly corrupted by the liberal ethos. It is an ethos that aims simultaneously at political and social collectivism on the one hand, and moral anarchy on the other. -Irving Kristol, "My Cold War" Equivocation has never been Irving Kristol's long suit. About the...

FReepers please post your President Rick Santorum Dream Team thoughts here. VP - Allen West or Marco Rubio Sec. Of Def Duncan Hunter Sr. not Jr. Or Jerry Boykin WH Press Sec Sarah Palin you betcha! Sec. Of State John Bolton ! Wow can you see the left explode! Fed Chair Herman Cain Sr. Advisor Newt if he helps Rick take out Romney WH Bathroom Cleaning Crew Chief Mitt Romney Attorney General Joe Arpaio Dept of Homeland Security - Gone - Now part of Justice Dept of Agriculture - Gone - Now a part of Interior. Dept of Health and...

Late last month, as America was ignoring the 24th anniversary of the Senate's rejection of conservative jurist Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, something extraordinary happened: New York Times columnist Joe Nocera admitted the borking of Judge Bork spawned today's toxic political culture. "(R)arely has a failed nominee had the pedigree — and intellectual firepower — of Bork," Mr. Nocera wrote. Judge Bork held conservative opinions, but none could be "fairly characterized as extreme." That didn't deter then-Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who denounced "'Robert Bork's America' as a place 'in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks...

24 years ago a new term was coined, “borking” or “to bork.” It is a tactic in which Democrats still revel, except when they feel they are on the receiving end at which point they cry foul. Borking is the complete politicization of the judicial nomination process, in which bad motives are imputed to purely legal positions. So if a judicial nominee believes that a particular issue is beyond the reach of the federal judiciary and properly for the political process, that nominee will have the worst motives imputed to him or her, including an imputed desire for bad results....

Meet Mitt Romney’s new top legal adviser... Bork says he has known Romney, the on-and-off-again Republican frontrunner, for the past decade and supported his candidacy last time around as well as during the current race. “I get an impression, a very strong impression, of competence,” Bork says, adding that “in addition to his undoubted skills as a businessman and a governor, Mr. Romney stands out as a leader.” Bork confides about his role in the campaign: “I’d like to be asked a question now and then for advice. But that’s about the extent of it.” As for his initial attraction...

Of all the manifold aspects of cultural decay, one of the most difficult to recognize is the corruption of constitutional law. When one thinks of the Supreme Court, or even of the judiciary overall, the image that comes to mind is a procession of old, graying men in black robes, blowing their noses into crusty handkerchiefs as they read dusty legal tomes. They sit on their lofty benches, refusing to budge from ancient precedent and the letter of the law. Humorless curmudgeons, they are capable of mercy only if the accused implores them, crying his eyes out in the process....

The problem with putting the Ninth Amendment into effect today is that many no longer appreciate the Natural Rights that the Constitution's framers took for granted. Amendment IX: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” There is little, if any, question that the rights retained by the people refer, at least in part, to what are called "Natural Rights" 11—that is, the rights people have independent of those they are granted by a government and by which the justice of governmental action is to be judged....

Elena Kagan thinks that the "Borking" of Robert Bork during his 1987 Supreme Court confirmation hearings would deserve a commemorative plate if the Franklin Mint launched a "great moments in legal history" dishware line. This isn't the time to rehearse the reasons why Kagan is wrong on that score. Still, one adverse result of the Bork hearings is worth dwelling on. Bork was the last Supreme Court nominee to give serious answers to serious questions. But because the left successfully anathematized him, no nominee since has dared show Borkian forthrightness. Consider Monday's high-court ruling: The Second Amendment right to own...

(CNSNews.com) – Former federal appellate judge and Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork said that Elena Kagan’s lacks the "mature philosophy of judging" needed to be a Supreme Court justice and that th Supreme Court is "drifting toward a committee of ideologues." In a Wednesday conference call sponsored by Americans United for Life, Judge Bork said that Kagan still displayed the tendencies of a young constitutional lawyer with “inflated dreams” of what constitutional law can and should accomplish.

Judge Robert Bork, whose nomination to the Supreme Court went down in flames in 1987 after contentious confirmation hearings, said for the first time today that he is opposed to Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Court. "Ms. Kagan has not had the time to develop a mature philosophy of judging," said Bork in a conference call organized by Americans United for Life. "It is typical of young lawyers going into constitutional law that they have inflated dreams of what constitutional law can do and what courts can do," Bork said. "That’s the danger of Ms. Kagan that she hasn’t had...

Justice Stevens says he will 'surely' retire during Obama's presidency By Jordan Fabian - 04/03/10 04:47 PM ET The usually reticent with the press Justice John Paul Stevens gave two major interviews this weekend that provide new information about if and when he will retire from the bench. Speculation has arisen that Stevens, 89, will step down sooner rather than later. The White House is preparing for confirmation proceedings over the summer, the New York Times wrote Saturday. In an interview with the Washington Post, Stevens, who is considered a member of the liberal wing of the Court, Stevens said...

Racists! That incendiary charge hurled by Democrats at Tea Party activists protesting against ObamaCare was shown to be totally false by Jack Cashill in his article "A Closer Look at the Capitol Steps Conspiracy". Given the Democratic Party's 150-year record of racist rhetoric and racial violence - from the days of slavery until today - it is astonishing to see Democrats sanctimoniously playing the race card.

Impeccable credentials are no defense against Republican obstruction tactics for Obama nominees waiting for U.S. Senate confirmation. The Republicans seem to be stalling the president's appointments simply because they can. They held up the nomination of Barbara Keenan, selected to become the first woman on the Virginia-based Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, even though there was no controversy about her qualifications, ideology or anything else - and the court was seriously shorthanded. Still, the nomination languished for months because of a GOP filibuster. She was ultimately confirmed, 99-0. These delay tactics go beyond the usual tit-for-tat when power shifts...