Sen. Mitch McConnell Wants Democrats To Stop Trying To 'Bork' Kavanaugh

Borking is a thing. Look it up. Senator McConnell did, and he even read the dictionary definition to the Senate.

(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

We have a word for blatantly misrepresenting the record and character of a judicial nominee in order to achieve a political objective. We call it an attempt to bork the nominee.

— Senator Mitch McConnell, invoking the ghost of Judge Robert Bork during a speech on the Senate floor, in an attempt to convince Democrats that they must cease their attacks against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Democrats successfully blocked Judge Bork from ascending to the Supreme Court when he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. McConnell later noted that “Judge Bork’s last name is in the Merriam Webster dictionary as a verb,” and it means “to attack or defeat a nominee or candidate for public office unfairly through an organized campaign of harsh public criticism or vilification.”


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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