‘It Doesn’t Matter Who’

Dem Senators: ‘It Doesn't Matter Who He Is Putting Forward,’ ‘We Cannot And Will Not Accept Them’

“Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) took turns at the microphone to demand unwavering opposition to Trump’s nominee. ‘The battle lines have been drawn,’ Gillibrand said , shouting at the top of her lungs at the rally. ‘Which side are you on?’” (“‘Which Side Are You On?’: Liberals Pressure Centrist Democrats On Trump’s Court Pick,” The Washington Post, 6/28/2018)

• SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): “The President’s list of potential SCOTUS nominees are complete non-starters…. We cannot and will not accept them to serve on the highest court in the land.” (Sen. Harris, @SenKamalaHarris, Twitter, 6/27/2018)

• SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): “No, it doesn't matter who he is putting forward.” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 6/27/2018)

Democrat Leaders Reach Back To 1987 Bork Playbook To Oppose A Nominee

“Democratic strategists say the party needs to model its resistance to the successful fight Democratic senators waged in 1987 against Judge Robert H. Bork, President Ronald Reagan’s pick for the Supreme Court.” (“Political War Over Replacing Kennedy on Supreme Court Is Underway,” The New York Times, 6/28/2018)

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): “We don’t know whom President Trump will nominate just yet or when he will make that nomination, but I want to go back to something my dear friend and colleague Senator Kennedy said because it highlights the stakes right now. He was talking about an extreme nominee, Robert Bork.... Robert Bork was rejected … Today, we face similar stakes right now, in this moment.” (Sen. Murray, Congressional Record, S. 4486, 6/28/2018)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): “We are looking at a destruction of the Constitution of the United States as far as I can tell …” (MSNBC’s “Hardball,” 6/27/2018)

‘Robert Bork Was Treated Shamefully,’

‘[I]t’s Bad For The Country That Bork Was Borked In The Way He Was’

MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY:

“Borked or borked; Borking or borking; Borks or borks

US politics, slang: to attack or defeat (a nominee or candidate for public office) unfairly through an organized campaign of harsh public criticism or vilification” ("Bork," Merriam-Webster.com, Accessed 6/29/2018)

• “The strategy of obstructing candidates by defaming them and vilifying their characters has come to be known as ‘Borking’ the nominee. Others have said the battle over Bork was a mistake.” (“The Supreme Court Confirmation Battle That Began 30 Years Ago,” Roll Call, 3/23/2017)

THE NEW REPUBLIC’S JEFFREY ROSEN: “But even from the sidelines, as I celebrated Bork’s defeat, I remember feeling that the nominee was being treated unfairly. Senator Edward Kennedy set the tone with a demagogic attack…. Bork’s record was distorted beyond recognition, and his name was transformed from a noun into a verb. The Borking of Bork was the beginning of the polarization of the confirmation process that has turned our courts into partisan war zones, resulting in more ideologically divided opinions and less intellectually adventurous nominees on the left and the right.” (Jeffrey Rosen, “We're Still Paying The Price For The Borking Of Robert Bork,” The New Republic, 12/19/2012)

• ROSEN: “[I]t’s bad for the country that Bork was Borked in the way he was. American courts, judges, and constitutional law have been paying the price for the past twenty-five years, and the future looks even more bleak.” (Jeffrey Rosen, “We're Still Paying The Price For The Borking Of Robert Bork,” The New Republic, 12/19/2012)

JAMES ROBERTSON, Former lawyer working in opposition to Bork nomination: “In the summer of 1987, I led a team of young lawyers to oppose President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court…. As distasteful as the battle was, the end … seemed to justify the means. Nevertheless, I regret my part in what I now regard as a terrible political mistake....  [T]he treatment of Bork touched off a Thirty Years’ War on judicial appointments. We have politicized the judicial confirmation process far beyond historical norms and undermined public confidence in the judiciary.” (James Robertson, Op-Ed, “The Judicial Nomination War Started With Bork. Let’s End It With Gorsuch.,” The Washington Post, 3/15/2017)

NATIONAL REVIEW’S CHARLES C.W. COOKE: “In the Washington Post, Ruth Marcus has penned an unhinged column in which she insists that Anthony Kennedy’s retirement must provoke ‘another Bork moment.’ There is much that is ugly about this sentiment — not the least of which is that Robert Bork was treated shamefully, and was hideously slandered to boot …” (Charles C.W. Cooke, “No, Ruth Marcus, It’s Not Time for a ‘Bork Moment,’” National Review Online’s The Corner, 6/29/2018)