Robert Bork, a former solicitor general and failed U.S. Supreme Court nominee, died today at age 85. He leaves behind an important political legacy, which helped make him a legal icon for many on the far-right.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the high court, which in turn led to one of the fiercest nominating fights in American history. Indeed, less than an hour after Bork was introduced as Reagan’s choice, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) delivered a famous condemnation on the Senate floor: “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, school children could not be taught about evolution, writers and artist could be censured at the whim of government.”
The indictment wasn’t especially hyperbolic. Bork had, after all, endorsed Jim Crow-era poll taxes, condemned portions of the Civil Rights Act banning discrimination in public accommodations, and argued against extending the equal protection of the 14th Amendment to women, among other things.
The nominating process that followed marked an important shift in American politics — senators decided it wasn’t enough to merely consider a Supreme Court nominee’s qualifications; they also had to consider whether he or she was ideologically and temperamentally suited for the bench. In Bork’s case, it was a test he failed, and 58 senators, including six Republicans, voted to reject his nomination.









