Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE A Bork post-mortem Indianapolis, Ind. To the Editors: Messrs. Flaherty and Degnan's scholarly discussion of Judge Bork's qualifications for the Supreme Court [September 11]...
...What liberal hogwas adout Bork's "disturbing" positions on various points of the law...
...It is true that Bork is concerned with society's expression of its moral beliefs in law, but this concern does not imply that he believes that this "moral sense" is right or wrong, true or false...
...Rather, Bork has written that we cannot ever decide when the public will is just or unjust, for the only way to do so would be to refer to ' 'some system of moral or ethical values that has no objective or intrinsic validity of its own about which men can and do differ...
...If true, this would mean that the man held up by conservatives as someone who would interpret the Constitution in accordance with the original intent of its authors would at the same time be one who believes that those men were seriously mistaken in their political philosophy based on a belief in natural rights and a "law of nature and nature's God...
...The only time the courts should refuse to recognize some claims as law is when they violate specific provisions of the Constitution...
...Microfilm from Vol...
...out for yourself...
...725, 736, Bas., Tachydromos, Greece...
...Our Lord and Savior said, "by their fruits you shall know them.'' It makes little difference what "expressed' ' logic a man uses to get to the truth or right conclusion...
...Copyright © 1987 Commonweal Foundation...
...BOB TWITCHELL Bork to basics Park Ridge, 111...
...Illustrations: Cover and pp...
...daniel McCarthy Boric & God's choice Mr...
...1, 1924, to current issues available through University Microfilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 and on Microfiche from Bell & Howell, Wooster, Ohio 44691...
...As our Holy Father pointed out, "with the right to choose goes the obligation to choose well...
...p. 741, Nick, Punch...
...p. 727, Kemchs...
...E. HALPIN Bork & relativism New Rochelle, N.Y...
...Thus, the claims or "gratifications" of racists or sexists, if enacted by a majority into law, should be enforced just as all other laws are enforced...
...p. 734, Pierotti, all Rothco...
...Bork . . . has stood for respecting legitimately constituted authority, order, and discipline...
...Thanks a lot for choosing the forces of darkness...
...Problem areas include not only Roe v. Wade, but also AIDS, drug testing, corporate regulation, affirmative action, pornography, obscenity, strict separation of church and state, prayer in schools, criminal rights, rights of the accused, rights of privacy, sodomy, contraception, homosexuality, and surrogate mothers...
...To the Editors: I have suspected . . . that the editorial bent of your magazine was anti-moral, and now your editorial against Bork [October 9] proves it...
...p. 739, Baloo, Rothco...
...This state-by-state adjudication causes such confusion, in a nation that technologically is very closely tied together, that justice is denied...
...Flaherty and Degnan's scholarly discussion of Judge Bork's qualifications for the Supreme Court [September 11] was very interesting, but never confronted the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.'' The Civil War and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments put many prohibitions on the states, but I believe Bork's "judicial restraint" would leave many activities to the 8000 jurisdictions of the states...
...728, 754, Danby...
...JACK BLAND Male call To the Editors: A correction to my last column...
...To the Editors: Writing in support of the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Daniel Degnan, S.J., ["Bound by the Constitution," September 11] mentions "at the risk of dignifying it," the charge that Bork is a moral relativist, and thus radically opposed to some of the most basic principles of the Constitution's Framers...
...Laurel, N.J...
...Serials Data program No.: ISSN 0010-3330...
...In fact, of course, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled for claimants such as Gideon, arguing that the Constitution's authors intended to create a fair system of justice...
...722: Commonweal (Continued from page 722) political system does not violate these standards...
...You figure it...
...I am sure Judge Bork's "judicial restraint" would make it more difficult for the Court to perform this function...
...Without offering any specific evidence or definition, Degnan argues that since "Bork shows a deep concern for the moral sense of the community," we need not worry about whether he would understand or sympathize with the most important intentions of the Founders...
...To the Editors: Would you agree on two Bork philosophies: (1) that it is not the function of the Supreme Court to make law (a la Warren), and (2) that the "right'' to privacy is a limited right spelled out in several amendments of the Constitution and cannot be endorsed as a blanket protection for child molesters, pornographers, dope pushers, enemy agents, etc...
...Degnan dismisses the charge, claiming that, while Bork has used some language that might make it seem as if he were a relativist, in fact he is merely guilty of some careless writing...
...Abigail McCarthy...
...The longer we wait to get a man or woman on the Supreme Court who will protect the lives of unborn babies—the more will die...
...There is, according to Bork, "no principled way to prefer any claimed human value to any other...
...p. 740, Valerry...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...Either a typo on my part or the printer's has Douglas Kiker referred to as "she...
...is a vote against God...
...The line between "judicial legislation," and establishing practical legal precedents is difficult to draw, but I believe this is the job of the Supreme Court...
...What this means, however, is that when someone such as Clarence Gideon comes to court demanding justice (in his case the right to be defended by a lawyer in his felony trial, although he could not pay for one), but cannot show that the Constitution has some specific provision guaranteeing him his version of what is just, he has no case...
...Our contrariness, our antagonistic, adversarial legal system leads to wild inconsistencies between jurisdiction, and of course makes lawyers rich...
...p. 743, Holland, Punch...
...This is not because the Constitution ' 'establishes justice," but because it lays out the fundamental rules of the system, rules which have been agreed [upon] and seem practical to follow...
...In doing so, the members of "the Court were by implication saying that there are knowable standards of fairness and justice, and part of their job is to see to it that the (Continued on page 760) Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest and Book Review Index...
...Am I suggesting that a vote against Bork...
...He is indubitably male...
Vol. 114 • December 1987 • No. 22
