tl?€ P€Nt>UlUM 5
OP-ED
7
iutifii
5p.Fi
h tk As a woman, a Christian, a col-
ege professor of Christian ethics,
ticki' P^'esbyterian minister, and a
joncemed citizen of the United
vej^tates of America, I am opposed
"o the nomination of Robert H.
^ Jork to the position of justice to
he Supreme Court of the United
Jtates of America.
I am writing to urge like-
ninded members of the Elon Col-
ege community to write to
members of the Senate Judiciary
;n(j^ommittee to express their views
] Hjfind to write to their senators urg-
Qf(ji(ng them to vote against Bork’s
^Confirmation.
til 1. I am suspicious of this man,
2j^"egardless of his other qualifica-
:ions, who thinks he can or will
3yj,ook objectively at the Constitu-
jfjjion of the United States, and
•[^Tiake decisions on issues which
I^Tiight come before him without
.mposing his own personal pre-
|Udices of interpretation in that
[^^ecision-making process.
First and foremost, Robert
jjj^ork is a human being and to any
ijj^sk he undertakes, he brings his
jwn particular prejudices,
I y^alues,biases,causes and
jg jSsues;everyone does.
What concerns me with the
„ i,iomination of Bork is that neither
Bork Opposed
i^e nor President Reagan seem to
^hink Bork has any axe to grind
y^r any biases.
Fiddlesticks!
We all do!
1 would rather trust my fate to
the hands of a person who knows
him/herself well enough to knpw
that.
2. Consequently, in the past,
because of his own ultra
conservative belief system and
philosophy, Bork has ruled again
and again against the concerns of
womwn, the poor, minorities, ant
otherwise unprivileged persons in
our country all the while firmly
believing that he was rationally
and objectively interpreting the
law.
Why should I believe he will do
any differently on the Supreme
Court.
I am not certain Bork
recognizes that regardless of how
well-intentioned and wise they
were, the men who wrote the
Constitution 200 years ago —at a
time when Blacks were owned
and women could not vote—could
not have anticipated many of the
very real issues and problems we
face in 1987.
We apply the Constitution in
1987 and on into the 21st Century.
1 believe that if Bork becomes
a justice of the Supreme Court,
his decisions will reverse the pro
gress this nation has made during
the last 33 years toward in
clusiveness. iiistice, and human
rights for all citizens.
The influence of each new
justice appointed will carry fay
beyond this present administra
tion, as Reagan well knows. Con-
seauently, we must not allow the
19th century world-view of the
Reagan Administration to be in
stitutionalized any further via our
Supreme Court.
Soon, Ronald Reagan will be
gone, and the, perhaps, those of
us concerned with the rights and
privileges of minorities and the
poor in our nation, can begin to
repair the damage which has been
done an administration which
was concerned primarily with
seeing to it that the have kept
theirs and got still more.
What we need is a justice who
is a 21st century person, who does
not look at the past throUgth rose-
colored glasses, who looks
realistically at the present, and
who anticipates the future with
regard to justice for all citizens of
this land.
In my view, Robert Bork is
NOT THAT MAN! Please join
me in sending a similar message
to the United States Senate.
By Carole Chase
nee(
Tion
line
lool
w
hos On September 13, The
•ntsNew York Times devoted a great
iieddeal of space to divining the
lasijudicial philosophy of Robert H.
t ((Bork—with results so varied and
ponderous as to defy comprehen-
afSion. Does he believe all he has
yaever written? Does he stand his
jfsievery opinion? Is he converting at
ji](the last minute to assure confir-
s jmation by the Senate?
thf Bork, 60, has been label-
fj^ed an “extremist" by opponents
;oilike Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
^ and a veritable savior by conser-
;ojvatives. His record is one of 25
icjyears as a lawyer, a judge and of-
beficer of the U.S. Justice
tbDepartment-it was he who
ill Jbeyed Pres. Nixon’s order to fire
.Archibald Cox, the special pro-
Bor|^ on, Bork
secutor who probed too deeply in
to the debacle known as
“Watergate."
To Ms. Chase’s essay
might be added some words
straight from Jodge Bork:
On the Supreme Court
We have a court which is
creating individual rights which
Peace Meeting
Chalmers Brumbaugh,
associate professor of Political
Science, will be speaking
September 24th at 7:30 p.m. in
Large Lounge about his travels to
South America. The lecture is
sponsered by The Students for
Peace and Justice Organization.
are not to be found in the Con
stitution by any standard method
of interpretation. The court itself,
from time to time, admits that,
and , more significantly, the
defenders of the Court’s perfor
mance admit it.
On Affirmative Action
Justice Pbwell’s middle
position—universities may not use
raw racial quotas but may con
sider race among other factors in
the interest of diversity among the
student body—has been praised as
a statesmanlike solution to an
agonizing problem. It may be.
Unfortuantely, in constitutional
terms, his argument is not
ultimately persuasive.
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