Robert Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Borkwas an American legal scholar who advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork served as a Yale Law School professor, Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth1 March 1927
CityPittsburgh, PA
CountryUnited States of America
begins sure
This begins to demystify the presidency, and I'm not sure that's all bad.
advocate judicial powerful prominent
the most prominent and intellectually powerful advocate of judicial restraint.
absolute attempts branch court disdain domestic government guidance historic justices lack minimal moral name original powerful principles rules task truly understanding whether
Once the justices depart, as most of them have, from the original understanding of the principles of the Constitution, they lack any guidance other than their own attempts at moral philosophy, a task for which they have not even minimal skills. Yet when it rules in the name of the Constitution, whether it rules truly or not, the Court is the most powerful branch of government in domestic policy. The combination of absolute power, disdain for the historic Constitution, and philosophical incompetence is lethal.
law judging democracy
In a constitutional democracy the moral content of law must be given by the morality of the framer or legislator, never by the morality of the judge.
independent broken people
Americans revere both the Constitution and an independent Court that applies the document's provisions. The Court has done many excellent things in our history, and few people are willing to see its power broken. The difficulty with all proposals to respond to the Court when it behaves unconstitutionally is that they would create a power to destroy the Court's essential work as well.
christian religious matter
Under the First Amendment's prohibition of the establishment of religion, the Court has steadily made religion a matter for the private individual by driving it out of the public arena.
christian religious mind
There can be no doubt that the systematic hostility of the courts to religion has lowered the prestige of religion in the public mind.
christian religious way
Reporters treat religion as beneath mention, as personally distasteful, or as a clear and present threat to the American way of life.
christian religious emotional
As the courts keep pushing religion out of sight, the press either ignores it or treats it as some sort of emotional affliction. It is hardly any wonder that religion slowly loses its grip on the popular mind.
christian religious new-york
If conservatives come to control the White House and both Houses of Congress, there will be very little change in Hollywood, the network evening news, universities, church bureaucracies, the New York Times, or the Washington Post. Institutions that are overwhelmingly left-liberal will continue to misinform the public and distort public discourse.
philosophy want-something gathering
[The current governing judicial philosophy is:] If you want something passionately enough, it is guaranteed by the Constitution. No need to fiddle around gathering votes from recalcitrant citizens.
judging people liberty
When a judge goes beyond [his proper function] and reads entirely new values into the Constitution, values the framers and ratifiers did not put there, he deprives the people of their liberty. That liberty, which the Constitution clearly envisions, is the liberty of the people to set their own social agenda through the process of democracy.
church politics zeitgeist
No church that panders to the zeitgeist deserves respect, and very shortly it will not get respect, except from those who find it politically useful, and that is less respect than disguised contempt.
government firsts first-amendment
The First Amendment is about how we govern ourselves - not about how we titillate ourselves sexually.