Robert Bork, RIP

The man whose name became a verb died today. He didn't get on the Supreme Court, but his experience set the tone for every confirmation hearing that followed.

There's no point in decrying what happened to Robert Bork, because (a) we're a quarter-century past the event and (b) Bork managed to have a productive life and remained an influential thinker well beyond his encounter with Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Lowell Weicker and the rest of those solons who found him wanting.

And per Ann Althouse, he was also the subject of perhaps the funniest David Letterman Top Ten List that I ever saw, with number 7 being a personal favorite, although 6 is pretty good, too:

"Top 10 Names for Robert Bork's Beard":

10. The Chin Slinky
 9. The Amish Outlaw
 8. The See-Through
 7. My Very First Beard - from Kenner!
 6. The Lunatic Fringe
 5. Senor Itchy
 4. The Radioactive Goat
 3. Salute to C. Everett Koop
 2. Gopher Butt
 1. The Babe Magnet

And the last irony? We'll give that one to Steven Hayward:

Bork’s death today might well represent his ultimate revenge on the Left: had he been confirmed to the Court, his passing today (there’s no special reason to think he would have retired) would have opened up an appointment for President Obama to name a new Justice and tip the Court to the Left.  Instead, the man Reagan put in the seat Bork would have filled, Anthony Kennedy, will carry on, determined, I am reliably told, to serve at least until Obama is gone in part because he was offended by Obama’s demagogic attack on the Citizens United decision that Kennedy wrote.  Another irony is that the chief reason Reagan selected Scalia over Bork for an open seat on the Court in 1986 was that he thought he might not get any more high court appointments, and wanted to place a jurist on the Court who would serve for a long time.

The rest of Hayward's piece is also worth your time, especially how he explains the way Joe Biden attacked Bork's political philosophy from the Right. RIP.