Since at least 1971, when he published a seminal article on constitutional interpretation in the Indiana Law Journal, Robert Bork has been the legal and moral conscience of America, reminding us of our founding principles and their cultural foundation. The scourge of liberal ideologues both before and after Ronald Reagan nominated him for the Supreme Court in 1987, Bork has for fifty years unwaveringly exposed—and explained—the hypocrisy and dereliction of duty endemic among our nation’s elites, the politicization and adversary activism of our courts, and the consequent degradation of American society.
Now, for the first time, Judge Bork has gathered together his most important and prophetic writings in A Time to Speak, including a foreword and commentary by the author. The volume includes more than sixty vintage Bork contributions on topics ranging from President Nixon to St. Thomas More, from abortion to antitrust policy, and from civil liberties to natural law. It also includes several of his judicial opinions and transcribed oral arguments. A Time to Speak is an indispensable book for all who have harkened to the truths spoken so forthrightly, in season and out, by this great American original.
What They're Saying...
"Over his career, Bork has written extensively on constitutional law in a way that is particularly accessible to nonspecialists, and those writings have been gathered in this large and rewarding collection. . . .
To be sure, the greatest enemies of original understanding come from the left, but there are conservatives who seek to import natural-law ideas into constitutional interpretation. Bork rejects this extraconstitutional source of rights as well. Among the more absorbing parts of A Time To Speak are found in the exchanges Bork has with these scholars. . . .
In addition to the constitutional clashes, this volume also contains cogent essays on international and antitrust law, the independent-counsel law, and moving and insightful appreciations of the great constitutional scholar Alexander Bickel, who was also Bork's closest personal friend. And there are notes on getting martinis right. (On the correct response when an olive is proposed for the drink: "When I want a salad, I'll ask for it.") . . . .
. . . No one has written with greater trenchancy, learning, and eloquence than Robert Bork on the menace of a judiciary that makes it up."
— Gregory J. Sullivan The Weekly Standard"The legal profession sports no shortage of nimble minds. Bork's, however, is the rare one capable of making the complex equally accessible to the expert and the layman. . . . A Time to Speak reminds us, yet again, that Robert Bork has been this nations's most eloquent and compelling Cassandra. Whether America rediscovers and retains what has made it great depends on whether we finally listen, and look within."
— Andrew C. McCarthy The New Criterion
"It is fair to say that readers looking for material on conservative points of view are unlikely to find more literate and rigorous exposition than appears in this volume. . . . While much of the material is fairly heavy going, it will be rewarding for those who appreciate sophisticated, tightly reasoned argument and elegant style."
— David C. Acheson The Washington Times
"Robert H. Bork has done the reading public the great favor of putting together a collection of his selected writings and arguments. The result is a delight."
— Jack Wade Nowlin City Journal
"A Time to Speak is essential reading for anyone intersted in the full range of Bork's thought."
— Claremont Review of books