Word: bork
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...area of sharp scrutiny was the respect Bork would give to prior decisions with which he disagreed. Under questioning from Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, Bork tried to lay to rest fears that he would seek to overturn liberal court decisions. Said he: "A judge must give great respect to precedent." In his previous writings, he has said that the court should be careful about reversing decisions when that would disrupt large bodies of established laws and practices. The cases he usually cited involved decisions relating to interstate commerce, but last week he declared this view would apply to First Amendment...
...Despite Bork's gruff but courteous style and ability to turn the hearings into a legal seminar, the "confirmation conversion" issue could keep him from winning Senate approval. The three swing men -- Republican Specter and Democrats DeConcini and Howell Heflin of Alabama -- expressed reservations about Bork's ever changing views. "There are those who raise the issue that your changing of your position," Heflin told Bork, "came only at a time when a carrot was being dangled before your eyes." Replied Bork: "I can assure you that that's not the way I operate...
...Bork's five days in the witness chair marked the longest interrogation any nominee has had to endure since Congress began holding Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1939, and he handled himself with considerable grace ^ under pressure. On Saturday, the last day of his testimony, Bork talked about how serving on the high court would be an "intellectual feast," and how he wanted to leave a "reputation as a judge who understood constitutional governance." There was one moment, however, when the strain seemed to affect him. After Senator Leahy took the judge to task for never doing pro bono work...
Leahy said he understood the reasons, but Humphrey persisted, asking Bork if his consulting work "coincided with heavy medical bills in your family." Visibly moved, Bork rested his chin in his hand and quietly replied, "Yeah." Chairman Biden quickly declared that it was time to take a break. It was in 1980 that Bork's first wife, Claire, lost a ten-year battle with cancer...
Although his time on the hot seat has ended, the hearings will continue this week with testimony from supporters and foes. "Bork will be caricatured from the left and the right," comments A.E. Dick Howard, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School. "You won't recognize him." For the Senators who still do not know what to make of Robert Bork, putting together a recognizable portrait of the judge could become even more confounding...