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Robert Bork Testifies on Behalf of the Federal Marriage Amendment Fanatic is Anti-Gay, Anti-Free Speech and Anti-Reproductive Choice Is the Author of the Alarmist Polemic, Slouching Towards Gomorrah Human Rights Campaign |
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The coalition includes the American Civil Liberties Union; People for the American Way; Americans for the Separation of Church and State; the Human Rights Campaign; LLEGÓ, The National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Organization; the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries; the Japanese American Citizen's League; and an invitee from the NAACP. Robert Bork, the lead pro-Federal Marriage Amendment supporter, has what the Human Rights Campaign calls "a troubling history." Bork is the author of Slouching Towards Gomorrah Bork was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987. Most progressive organizations and Senators opposed his nomination, and the Senate rejected his nomination. Since his rejection, Judge Bork has made it very clear that even those who strongly opposed his nomination underestimated the damage he would have caused to reproductive choice, freedom of speech, separation of church and state, and gay rights. Reproductive Choice: Though Judge Bork insisted throughout his confirmation process that he would not necessarily vote to criminalize abortion, he has since boasted that if he were on the Supreme Court he "would have made the fifth vote to overturn Roe against Wade" when the Court reconsidered the constitutionality of abortion in 1992. [1] He has gone even further, stating "there just isn't anything that could legitimately be called a general 'right to privacy.'" [2] Freedom of Speech: Robert Bork has become an outspoken advocate of censorship. Judge Bork has warned that "sooner or later, censorship is going to have to be considered as popular culture continues plunging to ever more sickening lows."[3] When asked by Christianity Today how he would decide what material should be censored, Judge Bork declared, "I don't make any fine distinctions; I'm just advocating censorship."[4] While testifying in support of a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, Judge Bork offered his assurance that "putting out of bounds a few means of expression in no way threatens freedom of speech."[5] Separation of Church and State: Judge Bork has voiced strong objection to many Supreme Court decisions defending separation of church and state. He was very critical of the majority decision in Lee v. Weisman[6], which held that the government's inclusion of prayer in a public high school graduation ceremony was unconstitutional. He claimed the decision was proof that the Court is determined to "drive religion and religious symbolism from the public arena."[7] He also criticized a similar decision, Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, which struck down a school district's policy of allowing student-led, student-initiated prayer before football games, citing it as an example of "militant secularism"[8] among the Court's majority. Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights: Judge Bork has demonstrated outright hostility towards gays and lesbians. He has criticized the media for portraying homosexuals as "social victims,"[9] and suggested that recognition of same-sex marriage will lead to tolerance of "man-boy associations, polygamists, and so forth."[10] He has been harshly critical of the Court's decision in Romer v. Evans[11], which held that states could not prevent local governments from enacting or enforcing laws to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination, and characterized the opinion as "indecipherable."[12] He claims the decision was the result of "the newly faddish approval of homosexual conduct among the elite classes from which the Justices come."[12] [1] Associated Press, Bork Eyes What Could Have Been, Washington Times, May 12, 1993. [2] Slouching, Still, The American Spectator, July/August 2002. [3] See Bork, supra note 30, at 140 [4] Michael Cromartie, Give Me Liberty, but Don't Give Me Filth, Christianity Today, May 19, 1997, at 28. [5] A Constitutional Amendment to Prevent Flag Desecration: Hearings on S.J. Res. 322 Before the Subcomm. on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the House Judiciary Committee, 101st Cong. (1989). [6] 505 U.S. 577. [7] See Bork, supra note 30, at 102. [8] Robert H. Bork, The Supreme Court 2000: A Symposium, 106 First Things (2000). [9] See Bork, supra note 30, at 127. [10] Jennifer Harper, Bork Envisions "Marriages" Winning in Courts, Washington Times, Sept. 21, 1996, at A5. [11] 517 U.S. 620 (1996). [12] Robert H. Bork, Our Judicial Oligarchy, 67 First Things 21 (1996). |
Conservative Judge Robert Bork will testify on the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would ban same-sex unions