As the Senate takes up Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, we would like to believe that there might be some senators among his declared opponents with the statesmanship to admit they were initially misinformed. Sadly, the more evidence that accumulates, the more heatedly they seem to deny it. If these deliberations are serious, the evidence on this page and elsewhere the past two weeks should cause some thoughtful senators to reconsider. The true record of Judge Bork could not be more different from the claims of Archie Bunker ads and Archie Bunker senators. Contrary to the smears, Robert Bork has not been a racist, sexist, sterilizer or bedroom spy in his careers as Yale law professor, U.S. solicitor general or appeals judge. His civil-rights record? As judge, he's sided with the minority plaintiff in seven of eight cases. As solicitor general, he argued more civil-rights cases than any Supreme Court nominee since Thurgood Marshall, urging an extension of a civil right in 17 of 19 cases. Women? Judge Bork ordered Northwest Airlines to pay stewardesses as much as male pursers for comparable jobs. He wants a new reasonableness standard for the 14th Amendment that would effectively adopt the Equal Rights Amendment. Privacy? He ridicules the flighty excesses of the Warren Court, but refers to settled First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights to privacy. The bloody campaign of distortion now lies dissected. Ralph Neas was already gunning for whoever was nominated to replace Lewis Powell when Teddy Kennedy rallied the troops with his outrageous speech. The lobbyists actually did a poll to find the best issues for distorting Judge Bork's views. Even Harvard's Laurence Tribe got into the game by mischaracterizing Judge Bork's Ninth Amendment views, not to mention Justice Black's. A Howard Metzenbaum staffer successfully and possibly criminally intimidated a black law professor into canceling his testimony. Jewel LaFontant had to risk a threatened boycott of Revlon to testify for Judge Bork. A Harris Poll that included a falsified quote from Judge Bork was trumpeted to "prove" that most Americans opposed Judge Bork. Now, to justify supporting this assault, the supposedly statesmanlike Howell Heflin is attacking Judge Bork from the right. He told an Alabama radio station that he "was troubled by Judge Bork's extremism -- an admission that he had been a socialist, a libertarian, that he nearly became a Communist, and actually recruited people to attend Communist Party meetings, and had a strange life style. I was further disturbed by his refusal to discuss his belief in God -- or the lack thereof." The liberal Advocacy Institute has scheduled a seminar for Monday on how the left beat Judge Bork. The theme is that "facts count, but symbols may count even more." With the success of this campaign, in short, it will be open season on the independence of the judiciary. The symbols they created for Judge Bork were brazen lies about a distinguished jurist. His opponents will take the nation's finest legal scholar for mounting as a trophy. But in our experience, this is the sort of victory for which the victors eventually pay.
As the Senate takes up Robert Bork' nomination to the Supreme Court, Senators heatedly deny they have been misinformed about his beliefs. He has been characterized as racist, sexist, sterilizer and bedroom spy during his careers as a Yale law professor, U.S. solicitor general or appeals judge. There is ample evidence that Bork has been reasonable, mainstream and unbiased throughout his careers. Lobbyists actually took a poll to find the best issues for distorting Bork's views. The liberal Advocacy Institute will hold a seminar on how the left beat Bork. The theme is that, "facts count, but symbols may count even more."