A Process of Denial: Bork and Post-Modern Conservatism

[I]t is naive to suppose that the [Supreme] Court's present difficulties could be cured by appointing Justices determined to give the Constitution "its true meaning," to work at "finding the law" instead of reforming society. The possibility implied by these comforting phrases does not exist. . . . History can be of considerable help, but it tells us much too little about the specific intentions of the men who framed, adopted and ratified the great clauses. The record is incomplete, the men involved often had vague or even conflicting intentions, and no one foresaw, or could have foreseen, the disputes that changing social conditions and outlooks would bring before the Court. Robert Bork 1