Ted Kennedy in Joe Biden biography by Jules Witcover

On Abortion: 1987: "Robert Bork's America" forces back alley abortions

Ted Kennedy's immediate, blistering attack on Bork from the Senate floor: "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government, and the doors of federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is often the only protector of the individual rights that are at the heart of our democracy." Kennedy's remarks, echoing the fears of special-interest groups, were the sort that Biden considered would put the confirmation of Bork on the wrong track. That approach, he wrote later, risked "quickly devolving to name-calling; Bork would be painted as a racist, a sexist and a tool of the rich and powerful. Even if those things were true, it was the worst strategy I could imagine, and one I wanted no part of." Source: A Life of Trial & Redemption, by Jules Witcover, p.175 Oct 5, 2010

The above quotations are from Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption by Jules Witcover. Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Ted Kennedy. Click here for Ted Kennedy on all issues.
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Page last updated: Feb 14, 2019