The 1987 Supreme Court confirmation process of Judge Robert Bork was said to be “an assault of the ages”—one that Fox Nation will dive into in an exclusive documentary on the brand-new, subscribers-only steaming platform launching Tuesday.
Former President Ronald Reagan placed three Supreme Court Justices on the bench—two of which, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and the late Justice Antonin Scalia—sailed through to the high court unanimously.
It wasn’t until Reagan’s nomination of Bork, who died in 2012, that the Senate’s sacred confirmation process shifted to a circus-like spectacle. Years later, Bork’s name was added to the dictionary.
“It’s interesting that a man’s name becomes a verb,” former Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., told Fox Nation. “And what does that mean to Bork? What does it mean? Well, it means to destroy.”
He added: “To 'Bork' means to go after a human being and to destroy that human being in order to win your political cause.”
Fox Nation’s “Borked” chronicles the epic battle over control of the U.S. Supreme Court, following the retirement of former Justice Lewis Powell. Women’s rights groups and civil rights activists vehemently opposed Bork’s nomination, setting off a fevered debate in the Senate.
“They Borked the guy,” former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wy., told Fox Nation. “It was an assault of the ages.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, at the time chaired by former vice president and then-Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, blasted Reagan’s appointment of Bork, saying he was “too conservative.” Former Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who slammed Bork’s nomination on the Senate floor just minutes after it was announced, warned that his confirmation to the high court would pave the way to “back-alley abortions,” “segregated lunch counters,” “midnight raids,” and more.
The Senate ultimately denied Bork’s confirmation to the court, and the vacant seat was filled by former Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose replacement, ironically, faced a “borking” of his own.
The newest Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh faced a rancorous confirmation battle in September, as three women came forth to accuse him of sexual assault dating back to the early 1980s when he was in high school.
Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman to accuse Kavanaugh, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September and maintained that she was “100 percent” certain that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a high school party and tried to remove her shirt.
Democrats said her claims were credible and called for further investigation, and for Kavanaugh’s withdrawal from the process. After Ford came Deborah Ramirez, who claimed Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party while they were freshmen at Yale University. Another, Julie Swetnick, claimed Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge (also accused of being in the room during the alleged Ford incident) were involved in or present at “gang” rapes. Kavanaugh and Judge vehemently denied it all.
The FBI was forced to launch a week-long supplemental background investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh. The bureau found no corroborating evidence of any of the accusations, and Kavanaugh was confirmed to the high court last month.
While the attacks on Bork did not rise to false allegations of gang rape, they changed the Supreme Court confirmation process forever.
Less than five years later, Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, faced a grueling process in 1991, after being accused of making sexually explicit comments and unwanted advances toward Anita Hill while she worked for him at the Education Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the 1980s.
Biden, D-Del., was also chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Thomas proceedings. Before the final hearing, Biden asked Thomas if he had anything he’d like to say.
“Senator, this is a circus. It is a national disgrace,” Thomas said in 1991. “It is a high-tech lynching for uppity-blacks and it is a message that, unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate, rather than be hung from a tree.”
Thomas defended himself against Hill’s accusations and was ultimately confirmed to the court on a 52-48 margin.
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