Why Conservatives Need to Stop Whining About Robert Bork

By Scott Lemieux, AlterNet
Posted on October 25, 2011, Printed on October 27, 2011

One of the great triumphs of Republican propaganda has been to turn the word “Bork” into a verb. The defeat of Robert H. Bork’s Supreme Court nomination in 1987 has come to stand for unfair attacks and political obstructionism. Joe Nocera’s recent New York Times column is the latest example of Bork being turned into a martyr who explains and perhaps justifies many dysfunctional aspects of American politics. The failure of the Bork nomination, Nocera asserts, was “obstructionist, mean-spirited and unfair.“ This Republican rhetorical triumph is particularly impressive because the claims about Bork are utter nonsense. The defeat of Bork was based on legitimate reasons, was not unprecedented, and was done the right way.

Senate obstructionism is a legitimate problem – the fact that it is difficult to get not only federal judges confirmed is a real problem for American government. But the claim that the defeat of Bork was “obstructionist” is transparently wrong. The Democratic majority scheduled Bork’s confirmation hearings in a timely manner and allowed an up-or-down vote. Bork was not (unlike LBJ’s Supreme Court nominee Abe Fortas) filibustered or left in limbo -- he was defeated fair and square by a bipartisan 58-42 vote in the Senate after getting only 5 out of 16 votes from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The charge of obstructionism also implies that the Democrats were unwilling to confirm anyone, but the more moderate conservative Anthony Kennedy was subsequently confirmed by the Senate by the razor-thin margin of 97-0.