File photo of US Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork in 2007 (© Carrie Devorah/WENN)

Conservative thinker Robert Bork dies, lives on as verb

12/19/2012

Robert Bork, a die-hard conservative who believed that liberalism was destroying Western civilization, has died of heart problems at age 85. Most recently known as Romney's constitutional adviser, Bork's failed 1987 Supreme Court nomination made history when it exploded into one of the most contentious confirmation hearings ever. Democrats fought his appointment, claiming it would set back civil rights, women's rights and civil liberties. It spawned the term "to bork," which means to systematically attack nominees. As solicitor general during the Nixon scandal, Bork fired the Watergate special prosecutor in the famed "Saturday Night Massacre." Conservatives are mourning on Twitter, with @GaryWStephenson tweeting, "A brilliant jurist. Ruthlessly attacked by Left, b/c he was Conservative. An honorable man." [Source]

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