Robert Bork

Robert Heron Bork (born March 1, 1927 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a conservative American legal scholar and former judge who advocates the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork is a former Solicitor General. In 1987 he was nominated for the position of Associate Justice on the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan, but his nomination was rejected by the Senate in a 58-42 vote.

Advocacy of Originalism

Bork's law texts are typically based on the Framers' original understanding of the United States Constitution, and in his texts he argues that constitutional text should be interpreted based on such understandings. He wrote of the result of what he considered loose interpretations of the Constitution: "We are increasingly governed not by law or elected representatives but by an unelected, unrepresentative, unaccountable committee of lawyers applying no will but their own." Reiterating that it is the Court's task to adjudicate and not to "legislate from the bench," he has advocated that judges exercise restraint when authoring opinions and dissents. Bork's views have influenced the legal opinions of conservative judges such as Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and former Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Related Topics:
Original understanding - United States Constitution - Associate Justice - Antonin Scalia - Chief Justice - William Rehnquist - U.S. Supreme Court

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