Remembering Judge Bork.

• Author: Dobranski, Bernard
• Position: Yale Law School Professor Robert H. Bork - Testimonial

With the recent death of Judge Robert Bork, we have lost one of the most distinguished and significant figures in American legal history. Most of us in the legal profession hope to make some small contribution to some area of law. Judge Bork made profound and seminal contributions in our understanding of two important areas of law--Constitutional Law, and its proper philosophical underpinnings, and Antitrust law. He deservedly is called the "Father of Originalism." His influence was so profound that even Ronald Dworkin, once a colleague of Judge Bork's at Yale Law School, and also recently deceased, was heard to say that we now are all "Originalists." I'm sure Dworkin didn't mean that in the proper sense, but I think it is a measure of Judge Bork's influence that the subject was even addressed that way. His groundbreaking book, The Antitrust Paradox, revolutionized the understanding and application of Antitrust Law by judges, practitioners, and legal educators. The emphasis is now on consumer welfare and not on inefficient attempts to manage competition by government regulators.

Judge Bork's legacy also includes his manifold contributions to the founding and development of Ave Maria School of Law. When I was organizing Ave Maria School of Law, he was the first faculty member announced as part of our law school. The significance of that appointment cannot be overstated. He gave us instant credibility as a serious institution, one committed to serious legal study, and his appointment enabled us to attract outstanding law students who wanted exposure to him. I have recounted numerous times how he came to accept the offer to join our faculty. Judge Bork, who was suggested to me as a possible faculty member by Justice Antonin Scalia, turned me down three times for an appointment to our faculty. On my fourth try, as Tom Monaghan and I were driving to the press conference to announce the formation of Ave Maria School of Law, he finally accepted the offer, thus enabling us to announce his appointment at the same time we announced the brand-new law school.

When discussing his appointment to our faculty, Judge Bork made it clear to me that he did not want to teach a regular law course, not even Antitrust, which he had so profoundly shaped. Rather, he wanted to do something different. Out of our conversations developed a special course called "Moral Foundations of Law," a course that was required of all first-year law students. Although it covered...