“America has lost a great man and a great legal mind,” said Susan A. Carleson, chairman and CEO of the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) upon the death today of Judge Robert H. Bork. “We at the ACRU have lost a great friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with his dear wife Mary Ellen and his children.”

Judge Bork, along with former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, the late James Q. Wilson and several other leading figures, assisted the late Robert B. Carleson in founding the ACRU in 1998 to defend civil rights for all Americans and to counter the ACLU and other leftist groups that distort constitutional principles.

“Over the years, Judge Bork’s support and guidance have been crucial to the ACRU’s success,” Carleson said. “Bob Bork was a champion of the Constitution, sound legal analysis and common sense. We shall miss him terribly.”

Judge Robert H. Bork served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1973 to 1977; acting U.S. Attorney General from 1973 to 1974; Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1982 to 1988. He served as the Alexander M. Bickel Professor of Public Law at Yale Law School from 1962 to 1981 with time off to serve as Solicitor General.

He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on July 1st, 1987 but his confirmation was denied by the Senate. In February 1988, he resigned as Circuit Judge and joined the American Enterprise Institute until November 2003.

He was the author of two best-selling books, The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of The Law and Slouching Towards Gomorrah. Judge Bork received his B.A. from The University of Chicago 1948 and his J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School in 1953.