he was the none three official in the justice department and he did what the attorney general at time and the deputy attorney general resigned rather than do which was to follow the order and fire the first watergate special prosecutor, mr. cox who was seeing access to the tapes. by the summer of 1987 he was a sitting judge in washington, dc, when president reagan nominated him to the supreme court. the confirmation hearings became a nasty and defining battle with the democrats controlling the senate judiciary committee including then senator biden, applying with liberal advocacy groups to portray him as a far right wing threat to blacks and women and the right of flow speech. he was defeated by 58-42 and remained bitter for the unfair novemberification -- vilification. the process became known as "borking" and he wrote on judicial activism and the dangers of moral relativism.