Judge Robert Bork

Judge Robert Bork, former circuit judge, U.S. solicitor general and 1987 Supreme Court judicial nominee, died Dec. 19 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. He was 85.

Judge Bork became a Catholic in 2003 at age 76. In an interview with the National Catholic Register after he joined the Catholic Church, he said: “There is an advantage in waiting until you’re 76 to be baptized, because you’re forgiven all of your prior sins. Plus, at that age you’re not likely to commit any really interesting or serious sins.”

His Funeral Mass was Dec. 22 at St. John the Beloved Catholic Church in McLean, Va., followed by interment at Fairfax Memorial Park.

Judge Bork, who was a U.S. Circuit Court judge for the District of Columbia from 1982 until 1988, was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987.

He had publicly made known his objections to the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion, disagreeing with the court’s decision based on a constitutional right to privacy. He also had criticized some aspects of civil rights laws.

After a fierce confirmation fight, he was rejected by the Democratic-led U.S. Senate in a 58-42 vote.

His first wife, Claire Davidson Bork, died in 1980. In 1982, he married Mary Ellen Pohl, a former member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In his 2003 interview with the National Catholic Register, he said his wife introduced him to the Catholic faith when he started going to Sunday Mass with her. During his childhood, he said, he went to a Presbyterian church but added that “our faith wasn’t terribly important growing up.”

Besides his wife, Mary Ellen, he is survived by three children from his first marriage, Robert, Charles and Ellen, and two grandchildren. —CNS