JUDGE ROBERT BORK FAILED SCOTUS NOMINEE IN 1987 DIES @ 85............

In 1986, when President Ronald Reagan elevated Associate Justice William Rehnquist to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, (SCOTUS); he then nominated Antonin Scalia as an Associate Justice of the SCOTUS.  Justice Scalia was confirmed by the U.S. Senate at his Confirmation hearings unanimously, 98-0.  One year later, when Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork as a SCOTUS Associate Justice, major controversy ensued over Bork's views and record, and his nomination failed to win Confirmation.  The vote defeating him tallying 58-42.  The major opposition to Bork's judicial philosophy and his views on issues of concern such as the Griswold Contraception Decision in 1965; the Roe versus Wade Abortion Decision in 1973; and Civil Rights / Voting Rights in the 1960's; was led by Senator Ted Kennedy and then Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, now Vice President Joe Biden.  At that time they argued Judge Bork's judicial temperament was out of step with the majority of Americans and that if confirmed to the Supreme Court, would serve upwards of a quarter century as a Justice.  Here we are as he dies, twenty five years later of heart disease, but having remained active in public and judicial affairs through the General Election last month as a Judicial and Legal Issues Adviser to the Romney Presidential Campaign.  One certain lasting effect of the controversial and failed Borl nomination is in the Supreme Court Nomination Confirmation process becoming much more heated especially in the 1991 nomination battle over the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas, who won confirmation with a majority of only two votes in his favor............Fr.  Troy