"Borking America"

by Edd Doerr

Mitt Romney has appointed Robert Bork as co-chair of his campaign advisory committee on law, the Constitution and the judiciary. Pretty scary, huh! People for the American Way  has released Jamie Raskin's compact study, Borking America: What Robert Bork Will Mean for the Supreme Court and American Justice, which may be downloaded from their web site, pfaw.org. Raskin is a Maryland state senator, a professor of constitutional law at American University, and a senior  fellow at People for the American Way.

Raskin's 11-page analysis of the significance of  Romney's close ties to Bork should  give all voters pause. Bork is not merely a failed Reagan Supreme Court appointee but a leading brain of the ultraconservative movement that now dominates the Republican Party. He is so far to the political right that he can properly be labelled an authoritarian fascist. You have to read Raskin's superb analysis. Bork is on the wrong side of every major civil liberties, civil rights, religious freedom, women's rights, and church-state separation issue.

When Reagan announced Bork's appointment in 1987 I was one of the first journalists to examine the trove of the writings that Bork turned over to the Senate Judiciary Committee. From there it was easy for me and Americans for Religious Liberty to enthusiastically join the successful campaign to defeat the Bork nomination. During that two months I guess I made at least 30 speeches and radio and TV talk show appearances. It was as easy as shooting ducks in a barrel. All I had to do was point out how Bork was on the wrong side of every issue dealing with constitutional liberties. As I had personally heard him lecture, it was simple to show that he was really a Jerry Falwell in striped pants.

Romney's proximity to Bork alone raises serious questions about Romney's fitness to sit in the Oval Office.