All Borked Up

This article takes a look at the impact of Robert Bork's Supreme Court nomination rejection. Appointed by President Reagan, Bork was a leading conservative force. Though highly accomplished, his involvement in the Watergate scandal and rigid views ultimately motivated a bipartisan 58-42 vote against. His seat ultimately went to Justice Anthony Kennedy, also nominated by Reagan. Interestingly, Justice Kennedy eventually voted to uphold a number of progressive rulings, including the right to abortion; Bork likely would have rejected such policies. Thus, a seemingly conservative nominee contributed for an increasingly progressive reading of the Constitution. However the author argues that because of Bork's rejection, conservatives created an infrastructure to vet and promote fellow conservatives to the judiciary. For example, the Federalist Society operates as a pipeline for aspiring judges to clerk fellow members. In what the article describes as "the long game" conservatives' emphasis on the judiciary has begun to bear fruits in the Trump administration's front-loaded, though successful, nominations for the Supreme Court.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/opinion/supreme-court-conservatives-progressives.html