Robert Bork: Supreme Court Nomination Hearings from PBS NewsHour and EMK Institute 

They actually let the guest (nominee) time to speak. Today, it is nothing more than a series of talking points by the Senator/Representative, leaving next to no time for the guest to answer. That said, they still came into the hearing with their minds already made up!

Love these old News Hour clips. If they aren't already all online, they should put them all online. RIP Robert Bork.

Always a gentleman.

Robert H. Bork very smart man

Robert Bork is the model that no subsequent nominee followed. People complain about Supreme Court nominees not telling us nothing and being general in their answers but when someone like Bork gives us what we want we reject their nomination.

I may be naive but Bork didn't paint himself as stupidly as most other politicos

Thomas Jefferson wrote, in his notes on Virginia, that once HIS idea of what the Constitution represented, that that, was the Republic vetted. His Republic, was the Republic that had the integrity and should be the Constitution of "We, the People". Thomas Jeffersons Constitution is what Lincoln used to describe as a Government Of the People, By the People, For the people.

That killer was sitting in judgment of Bork!

Wow, Bork was brilliant! Supreme Court Nomination hearings are a joke nowadays. The depth of his responses is unparalleled. Contrast these hearings with the hearings over the last 10 years.

For the shenanigans during the Kavanaugh hearing, this hearing was what paved the way for that behavior. Thanks Kennedy

Damn we really missed out this guy was good !

Today's senators could learn something from senators of the past who didn't constantly say reclaim my time reclaim my time when somebody they're questioning is speaking

The laughter in the room at 11:32 is why you never ask an intelligent man a dumb question with people around.

Bork would have made a great Supreme Court Justice. What a shame he didn't.

Long live robert bork s legacy

who's the lady in the gray suit behind him?

He makes a lot of sense and has common sense

and sometimes they give us bad ones.

I was in third grade at this time, and I wrote a letter to Senator D'Amato asking him to vote no. I said 'Judge Bork doesn't care about Black peoples' rights." The real reason I hated Bork was that they cancelled my cartoons to put this hearing on TV.

15:15 now what do we have?

IMO Bork was not confirmed because of his actions during watergate during a democratic majority and his closing remarks on why he wanted to serve on the high court.

Bork calling Orson, Bork calling Orson, come in Orson ... was this guy from another planet? =P

Brilliant mind!

What a shame. Bork was brilliant.

Sen Kennedy...nobody lower...paved the way for Gross Bad Manners in politics...

@nedster7 I agree most laws need to be repealed as their unintended consequences are limiting our freedoms and doing nothing, or making worse, for the lives of the ones they are purported to help. This action of massive repeals would probably keep Congress busy day and night for years.

That s right

Reminder: Bork was given a full hearing in a Democratic Senate, which resulted in a 5-9 vote against him. Bork then demanded a vote from the full Senate anyway, Democrats obliged! And he was again voted down again 42-58, with six Republicans voting no. Bork was no victim. He was an extreme, weird nominee. But false memory of Republican nominated judges reflects the media bubble conservatives populate where old grievances are chewed over endlessly.

5:46 "I don't want to be regarded as an apparatchik, an organization man who will do whatever the organization wants". No republican today would ever actually think this.

Brilliant mind

Blessed are the Peacemakers - ALL who in their God Ordained Office Only desire for ALL in their sphere of influence to know why they do what they do and to change course NOW - if they so desire - before it is forever too late!

It is a pity that Robert Bork was not nominated, he would have been a great judge in the Supreme Court.

"Isn't that a bogus argument. we're not talking about unisex toliets here we're talking about fundamental rights". Fast forward 40 yrs same room there arguing for unisex toliets lol

Interesting

@checkersisfortramps You're wrong there are three branches; judiciary, legislature i.e. Senate/House and the Executive i.e. President and his Cabinet. Your thinking of Parliamentary where the Legislature and the executive are a fused to some deegre

#1 NOW IS A PERFECT TIME TO TAKE A LOOK AT *TERM LIMITS FOR ALL FEDERAL JUDGES *THE REAL-ISSUE CONCERNING SUPREME COURT JUSTICES = 3/4 OF A CENTURY FOR ONE MIND-SET ON A BENCH IS JUST TOO LONG!!! This is predicated on the answer to the question: Why are POLITICIANS from both parties clamoring so fervently to nominate Justices to all of the Federal Court benches? The answer to that question provides a clear understanding of how Americans have come to view our Federal Judges, and that is, as an arm of each political party, respectively. And the main follow-through on this fact is that Judges these days are more-than-willing to issue partisan rulings these days. This is in fact, realized, in the many rulings that have been issued from the various benches, from the lower Courts, right up through the Applet Courts, and through to the Supreme Court of these Lands. Just look at the resent Florida Court ruling on the "restoration of felon's right's to vote in elections. Consider the referendum-vote of the people of Florida, who voted overwhelming to give those rights back to those felons who have served their time for crimes committed." The Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, in his plight to manipulate the voter-ranks in the 2020 election, devised a plan to withhold the restoration of those felon's rights by arbitrarily imposing the requirement that those felons must pay back any fines before being able to vote. Moving through the court system, the claims of those felons, that this was not the People's Will, was dismissed by (Republican favored) Applet Judges, in favor of the voter-suppressing Republican Governor. This sort of ruling is plainly clear that Federal Judges are becoming increasingly partisan with their rulings. This could come back to find the Republican ranks on the other side of such future partisan rulings. So this is the solution: "We need to find a way to take partisanship out of our judicial system, the way it was intended in the first place. We need Term Limits for our Federal Judges, and a reform of the process of which they are appointed to the Benches" I believe, with the modern political climate, it will be impossible to solve, that is, within the process justices are appointed today. I believe the American People would be better served if our Judges were VOTED onto the benches by both branches of the government: House and the Senate. Most importantly, I believe LIFE APPOINTMENTS to the Bench is severely problematic for the Republic. Three quarters of a century could go by, having a partisan Justice sitting on the bench skewing rulings that only make sense to a small number of American Citizens. This has to change if we are to have a better system of government. The course we are on now will only render the US looking more and more like Belarus of today.

Notice how Bork thought of himself as an Aparatchik, but not a "Useful Idiot"( which is not a slander)

Robert Bork would have been a good justice.

@Zachw2007 his only problem was pride and that he needed to show the entire room that he was smarter than them, which he was. if he only kept it together, he would have gotten confirmed.

It’s so interesting watching this. Bork isn’t dumb. He’s just very much his own man and absolutely not afraid to be himself. Some people love that. Others don’t because it makes them question the need to conform and fit in. I like Bork but at the end of the day, his role in the Saturday Night massacre during the Watergate Scandal was probably what really sunk his nomination. That and originalist interpretations of the constitution are by their nature extremely partisan.

C- Biden from no name law school asking about a wire tap and condoms. Little surprise here.

Judge Bork should be on the Supreme Court right now.

1. Bork got Borked 2. Clearance got Borked 3. Kavanaugh got Borked 4. Who's next

Hello random person. Good luck on the civics homework.

@Zachw2007 Agreed.

While he was able to think on his feet, Borks continous reliance on inconsistent excuses was probably a bad reflection on his character. His explanation of the Saturday night massacre sounds suspiciously too convenient.

Too bad Judge Bork did not make it on the bench. I think he would have made a great justice.

Judy Woodward so cute back then, Bork would have been best judge in history

Strom!

What a waste, Bork was sharp.

Stunning intellect ( Bork ). Wonder how it would have turned out with him on SC.

20:13 that assumption would not be born in reality, Justice John Marshall Harlan said so immediately- not over time.

Judge Bork was a better man than what the media assumed at that time. RS. Canada

Right off the bat his firing of Cox did not make him look particularly good to me. It was a mistake.

If Bork had been confirmed, how likely do you think it is that the Court would have overturned the Roe V. Wade decision in Casey or one of the other abortion cases? Furthermore, what would the court look like now if he were on it (making allowances for his age of course).

Big Al Simpson, always a pisser!

March

10:49

If they'd known about the deal he made with Nixon, Reagan wouldn't have nominated him.

Robe her toes. Then we need lower case robes. Safe and culturally upsetting to the farther cases. I agree here. We don't withstand the same rigors, figures and burdens. So it's no right here to be held by the judgements of the far past made far away. Especially where cars and trucks aren't yet rights a they're pulled up out of our crater lake valley. How did they ever drive to school, much less trial?

Ted Kennedy... He's getting his just desserts as we speak.

Yep, it's nice to hear someone mention this, however rare it is anymore. I like to say, it's suppose to be a system of checks and balances, and that includes the people too. Of course, people are so ingrained in the thought of democracy and "rights", and I'm sure I don't need to explain this to you, it don't go over too well.

dont understand who would you ask bork about his beard what do this have do with it dont judge im just beacouse of the beard

Regarding Griswold and Connecticut's ban on contraception, the law was NOT dead letter. Arrests were few because the law chilled doctors', nurses', pharmacists', health clinics', etc. interest in discussing, prescribing, and dispensing contraceptives. Also the ban had two parts. The first prohibited consumer use The second banned aiding and abetting anyone so they use contraception. This part of the law war enforced against health care providers. Otherwise, there would have been no defendants who could sue for the law to be declared unconstitutional.

This is the last time a Supreme Court nominee was able to openly articulate his/her views. Now all they do is obfuscate and stall during the hearings in order not to get "Borked" by the opposition

A white Democrat from Alabama? That’s different.

Ah, the post-Nixon era....what a circus!

@ToxicOdiousOne How is the Civil Rights Act unconsitutional?

When the democratic party had some brains 15:26 "That's bogus, We're not talking about unisex toilet seats"

Senate

9:37 Bork is obviously right and damn clear on this point, and here comes 11:12 Joe Biden with one of the dumbest hypotheticals ever. A wiretap to check for use of rubbers? Even the audience is amused.

This guy taught one future President and taught the wife of that President that almost became President.

'Supreme Revenge':))

@lladnarg murder requires intent to kill - if anything, I think it would have been negligent homicide...

I never heard a candidate so forthright in his answers!

Bork getting turned down is equivalent to George Washington getting taken out of history books in favor of Madonna...which if you didn't know, is actually happening.

Congress

Mary Jo Kopechne couldn't be reached for comment.🏊

I'd never actually seen Bork's testimony before. Thanks for the upload. Compared to most of the justices who've been confirmed since, Bork seems both level-headed and super smart. That Thomas, Suter and Sotomayor are wearing robes and this guy isn't ranks up there with Chappaquiddick among Teddy's greatest disgraces.

12:05- 16:32 Robert Bork. 💯 Qualified for supreme court justice. What a disgrace democratic left media and senators tarnished his reputation.

I-I think it was the “spooky” frightening beard that caused Judge Robert Bork’s non-confirmation to the Supreme Court. -He obviously was intelligent educated man and seemed a decent guy. RS. Canada

Okay he can placed on the Supreme Court Now.

Wow, this in a Supreme Court confirmation hearing? I’m aghast! Why was this allowed to happen? WAY too political of a candidate!! Toxic candidate, terrible, terrible choice!! 🤯 And Biden - what a jerk! 😝

7:00 Alan Simpson was hilarious

NOTHING had changed!!

The right of privacy is one of those rights which is a limit on the powers of government, even if not specifically in the Constitution. There are restrictions to government powers, and when a right is not specifically protected in the constitution, it is still up to the courts to keep government constrained within its define powers, instead of allowing the government to infringed on the unemurated rights of people. Thank God Bork is not on the court...

Alas, some bedroom activity becomes public when an abortion is sought. And what about contraceptives, which laws prohibited once? Had the Founders ever considered the possibility that the government would someday interfere with doctors' treatment of patients? Would they have approved? Of course, there is also the issue of abortions being illegal in the 18th and 19th centuries mainly because they killed so many women; were newer justifications for making them illegal on the Founders' minds? These tired old issues remain many years later when wisdom and common sense should have laid them to rest.

Judge bork ,a good man!

10:32 14:47

Never voted Democrat again after this hearing.... he was a great jurist.

The law was enforced oncw bork. You lose bork. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, judge bork

Station XI, Meditation: Recall how Jesus lies down upon His Cross , and how He extends His arms to offer up the sacrifice of His life for our salvation. The soldiers nail Him, hands and feet, to His gibbet. And then they raise it, leaving Him to die upon it in terrible anguish.

Bork went ahead and fired the prosecutor...and no one in that office would have felt any threat or pressure...nothing got in the wya...hahahahaha ...

Bork had balls

But for evil men in the Senate Robert Bork would have been the greatest Jurist our country has ever known. Special place in hell for those who discredited him.

You know, Robert Bork sounds to have been a brilliant man, one who puts to shame a lot of the potential justices in their confirmation hearings, Alito and Kavanaugh being two examples. As a matter of fact, I remember his hearings, and even back then I didn't understand the ruckus the Democrats were making. Of course, I hadn't understood at that time that the Democrats were smearing him based on the fact that they didn't want ANY Republican nominee to be confirmed, that it wouldn't have mattered WHO was nominated; the Democrats were going to gang up on them. How far we've sunk.

Bork? More like DORK! 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The problem with this doc is it plays both siderism. The Federalist Society is a small organization in each law school representing 1-3% of students. But it represents a near 100% of Republican judges. Republicans only pick from the most conservative of lawyers. On the flip side Democrats pick center right corporate lawyers. The 10% of truly liberal lawyers are not even in consideration. Where is the ACLU lawyer, or the Green Peace lawyer or The SPLC lawyer up for judgeship? Democrats did not start this fight, they fought back when it became clear that the Republicans had abandoned the idea of picking moderate judges, and would only pick from this tiny 1% of lawyers who are in the Federalist Society. The Dems pick from the other 99%. Which of these two process is radical? Second, this docs fails to mention that the Republicans have had a majority of Judges since Reagan. But where the bar was set for considering conservative justice kept changing. Sandra Day O'Connor was a very conservative judge by any historical standard. The fact that she became a swing vote does not change that. It just shows how right the court moved with Republicans only picking people who were in their society of radicals. After she retired, Kennedy was the swing vote. Kennedy is on the record saying he uses the Federalist Society to find his clerks. Kennedy is more conservative than O'Connor, but than is the swing vote. This idea that Democrats changed the game is nonsense. Democrats reacted to Republicans changing of the game in a radical way.

Bias straight away its what we wanted not what was right is that what he means in other words ? CRUCIAL SENTENCE " and that's what I wanted"

Bork was a nut.