Word: bork
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Making the telephone call was something Senator Arlen Specter had dreaded but felt compelled to do. After Specter imparted his bad news to Robert Bork last week, the judge simply said, "Senator, I'm very disappointed." Replied the Pennsylvania Republican: "I wanted to be the one to tell...
...short time later, Specter took the Senate floor and announced his intention to vote against Bork's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I believe there is substantial doubt as to how he would apply fundamental principles of constitutional law," said Specter. Until the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded its twelve days of confirmation hearings last Wednesday, Specter was the only undecided Republican on the 14-member panel. His defection virtually guaranteed an anti-Bork majority when the committee votes on the nomination this week...
Specter's decision was a turning point in a grim week for Ronald Reagan's controversial nominee. The same day the Pennsylvanian joined the small band of moderate Republicans who are against Bork, a trio of Southern Democrats, including Louisiana's influential conservative J. Bennett Johnston, said they too would oppose the judge when his nomination comes to a vote. With the Democrats holding a 54-to-46 majority in the Senate, the President had been relying on Southern crossover votes to give his man the 51 yeas he will need for confirmation. Making matters worse for the White House...
Assistant Professor of Government Stephen Macedo, a conservative who had been scheduled to testify against Bork, said that the relatively quick change in the Judiciary Committee's outlook signified that the tide had taken a definite turn against Bork...
...delighted to see the vote because I think [Bork] represents a view of constitutional interpretation and the role of the Court that would have been very damaging to a number of advances that have been made in the past few decades, such as the rights of women and minorities," he said...