Nomination of Judge Bork
In the law there exists the centuries old principle of stare decisis . Translated it means let the decision stand.
In other words, absent the most compelling set of circumstances and/or irrefutable reasons, an existing legal precedent as expressed in an opinion of a state’s supreme court, the United States Supreme Court or a federal appeals court is not to be altered or overturned.
This is not to say that rigidity rules; on the contrary, differing case facts and changed statutory applications can and do generate differing conclusions.
The media have been telling us that Bork has openly expressed his willingness, even eagerness, to overturn many, perhaps most, Supreme Court decisions made in civil rights and individual freedom cases.
Unless the Senate in the upcoming Bork confirmation hearings opts to take our country back 50 legal years, it had better say no to the Reagan-Bork maneuver. It is vitally important that the President be made to understand that only a judicial middle-of-the-roader will get the nod for a Supreme Court seat.
LESTER SANDELMAN
Los Angeles
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