Bork

[Safranek, Stephen]

Since he has joined my faculty and I have had the pleasure of spending some
time with him I can report that he appears to have no bitterness about his
nomination to the Supreme Court.  Of course I have no psychological training
so may not be as able as some on this list.

I think that the comments about Bork are unfair from his perspective of
Constitutional interpretation anyway.  He thinks that the Courts should
separate their personal views from their constitutional interpretations, and
thinks that it can be done.  One can of course disagree with him on this.
However, this makes his political views in Slouching Toward Gomorrah differ
from his constitutional views.

-----Original Message-----
From: Garrett Epps [mailto:gepps at LAW.UOREGON.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 7:32 PM
To: CONLAWPROF at listserv.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: Bork


As someone who opposed Bork's nomination originally, I nonetheless believe
that
he has swung rather far to the right since 1987 even relative to where he
was
then.  I base this on his writings in the unfortunately titled SLOUCHING
TOWARD
GOMORRAH, which I read with some care.  But this seeming deterioration may
in
part be due only to an understandable bitterness at losing his life's
ambition.  As someone who was voted down for a (quite small) state office by
a
partisan legislative majority, I quite see how this can jaundice one's
outlook.  Take these observations for what they are worth, though please
don't
feel obligated to share your estimate of that worth with me.

Frank Cross wrote:

> Maybe I was unfair to Judge Bork, whom I knew slightly at my former
> law firm.  I thought he was a wise and able jurist on the DC Circuit, and
> I don't object to his views on constitutional interpretation, but his
> recent writings seem to be playing to a crowd of extralegal conservatives
> rather than making thoughtful arguments to legal conservatives.  I was
> provoked to ask if I was misperceiving and if others had noticed, when
> Doug Laycock noted that his First Things article took a position that
> made Prof McConnell's interpretation look rather left.
>
> At 04:02 PM 9/27/2000 -0400, you wrote:
> >I'd give my left pinky finger to have Bork on the Court.  He's one of the
> >wisest and most able jurists in this country, whatever you may think of
his
> >views on interpreting the constitution.
> >
> >Brad Clanton
> >Counsel
> >House Judiciary Committee
> >Constitution Subcommittee
> >362 Ford House Office Building
> >Washington, D.C. 20515
> >202.226.7685 (phone)
> >202.225.3746 (fax)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Frank Cross [mailto:crossf at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU]
> >Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 5:49 PM
> >To: CONLAWPROF at listserv.ucla.edu
> >Subject: Bork
> >
> >
> >Anybody else glad that Bork is not on the Court?  Actually, though I
> >count myself a Dem, I wrote favoring his appointment at the time and
> >thought that his critics were overboard and unfair.  In retrospect,
though,
> >they seem somewhat less unfair.
> >
> >I suspect that he may be embittered by the experience and that he has
> >simply gone way over the top in the opposite direction.  But it's still a
> >little troubling.
> >
> >
> >Frank Cross
> >Herbert D. Kelleher Centennial Professor of Business Law
> >CBA 5.202
> >University of Texas at Austin
> >Austin, TX 78712
> >
> Frank Cross
> Herbert D. Kelleher Centennial Professor of Business Law
> CBA 5.202
> University of Texas at Austin
> Austin, TX 78712

--
Garrett Epps
Associate Professor
University of Oregon School of Law
357 Knight Law Center
1221 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403

PHONE: (541) 346-1578
  FAX: (541) 346-1564

gepps at law.uoregon.edu
Trouble sleeping? Try my latest works:
http://www.law.uoregon.edu/faculty/epps/default.html

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