Editing Robert Bork (section)

===Solicitor General===
Bork served as [[Solicitor General of the United States|Solicitor General]] in the [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] from March 1973<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/21/archives/nixons-men-all-work-and-no-frills-presidents-men-all-work-and-no.html "Nixon's Men: All Work and No Frills; President's Men: All Work and No Frills"], ''The New York Times''. March 21, 1973.</ref> until 1977. As Solicitor General, he argued several high-profile cases before the Supreme Court in the 1970s, including 1974's ''[[Milliken v. Bradley]]'', where his brief in support of the [[Michigan|State of Michigan]] was influential among the justices. Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]] called Bork the most effective counsel to appear before the court during his tenure. Bork hired many young attorneys as assistants who went on to have successful careers, including judges [[Danny Boggs]] and [[Frank H. Easterbrook]] as well as [[Robert Reich]], later [[United States Secretary of Labor|Secretary of Labor]] in the Clinton administration.

====Saturday Night Massacre====
{{main|Saturday Night Massacre}}
[[File:Ford A5022 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1975-06-12)(Gerald Ford Library) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Bork greeting President [[Gerald Ford]] in the [[Oval Office]] in June 1975]]
On October 20, 1973, Solicitor General Bork was part of the "[[Saturday Night Massacre]]" when President [[Richard Nixon]] ordered the firing of [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]] Special Prosecutor [[Archibald Cox]] following Cox's request for tapes of his [[Oval Office]] conversations. Nixon initially ordered [[U.S. Attorney General]] [[Elliot Richardson]] to fire Cox. Richardson resigned rather than carry out the order. Richardson's top deputy, [[United States Deputy Attorney General|Deputy Attorney General]] [[William Ruckelshaus]], also considered the order "fundamentally wrong"<ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{cite news |last=Noble |first=Kenneth B. |author-link=Kenneth B. Noble |title=New Views Emerge of Bork's Role in Watergate Dismissals |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DE163FF935A15754C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524213506/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/26/us/new-views-emerge-of-bork-s-role-in-watergate-dismissals.html |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |work=The New York Times |date=July 26, 1987 |access-date=June 4, 2012}}</ref> and resigned, making Bork Acting Attorney General. 

When Nixon reiterated his order, Bork complied and fired Cox. Bork claimed he carried out the order under pressure from Nixon's attorneys and intended to resign immediately afterward, but was persuaded by Richardson and Ruckelshaus to stay on for the good of the Justice Department.<ref name="Yahoo" /> Bork remained Acting Attorney General until the appointment of [[William B. Saxbe]] on January 4, 1974.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/ag/aghistpage.php?id=69 |title=William Bart Saxbe |publisher=The United States Department of Justice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407080247/http://www.justice.gov/ag/aghistpage.php?id=69 |archive-date=April 7, 2010}}</ref> In his posthumously published memoirs, Bork claimed that after he carried out the order, Nixon promised him the next seat on the Supreme Court,<ref name="Yahoo">{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/bork-nixon-offered-next-high-court-vacancy-73-215747517.html |title=Bork: Nixon Offered Next High Court Vacancy in '73 |date=February 25, 2013 |work=Yahoo News |agency=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301231021/http://news.yahoo.com/bork-nixon-offered-next-high-court-vacancy-73-215747517.html |archive-date=March 1, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> though Bork did not take the offer seriously as he believed Watergate had left Nixon too politically compromised to appoint another justice. Nixon never had the chance to carry out his promise, as the next Supreme Court vacancy came after [[Resignation of Richard Nixon|Nixon resigned]] and [[Gerald Ford]] [[Inauguration of Gerald Ford|assumed the presidency]], with Ford instead appointing [[John Paul Stevens]] following the 1975 retirement of [[William O. Douglas]]. Ford considered nominating Bork to replace [[William Colby]] as [[Director of the Central Intelligence Agency|CIA Director]], but his advisors convinced him to turn first to [[Edward Bennett Williams]] and then [[George H. W. Bush]] instead due to Bork's unpopularity and lack of experience in intelligence.<ref>Wilentz, Sean (2008). ''The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974–2008'' (1st ed.). New York: Harper. {{ISBN|978-0-06-074480-9}}. {{OCLC|182779124}}.</ref>