Robert Bork, R.I.P.

The great American jurist Robert Bork has died. An appreciation of his career and contributions will appear in this space shortly. Condolences and consolation to his loving and accomplished family.

In the meantime, here is an obituary by John Podhoretz on the Commentary site.

He was a shy, abrupt, slyly witty, and intensely thoughtful man. He had no airs. You asked him a question, he answered it. You asked him about his views of cases like Griswold v. Connecticut, involving the privacy of sexual acts in the bedroom, and he said the case had been wrongly decided not because there should be no privacy but because he could locate no right to privacy in the Constitution. This was, he said, a matter for legislatures, not courts.