Editing Robert Bork (section)

===United States Circuit Judge===
Bork was a circuit judge for the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]] from 1982 to 1988. He was nominated by President [[Ronald Reagan]] on December 7, 1981, was confirmed via voice vote by the Senate on February 8, 1982,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/nomination/97th-congress/891 |title= PN891 – Robert H. Bork – The Judiciary |access-date=February 15, 2016|year= 1982 }}</ref> and received his commission on February 9, 1982.

One of Bork's opinions while on the D.C. Circuit was ''Dronenburg v. Zech'', 741 F.2d 1388,<ref name="Dronenburg">{{cite court |litigants=Dronenburg v. Zech   |vol=741 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=1388 |court=D.C. Cir. |date=August 17, 1984 |url=http://openjurist.org/741/f2d/1388/dronenburg-v-zech |access-date=March 2, 2016}}</ref> decided in 1984. The case involved James L. Dronenburg, a sailor who had been administratively discharged from the [[United States Navy]] for engaging in [[Sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States military|homosexual conduct]]. Dronenburg argued that his discharge violated his [[right to privacy]]. His argument was rejected in an opinion written by Bork and joined by [[Antonin Scalia]], in which Bork critiqued the line of Supreme Court cases upholding a right to privacy.<ref name="Dronenburg"/>

In rejecting Dronenburg's suggestion for a rehearing ''[[en banc]]'', the D.C. Circuit issued four separate opinions, including one by Bork (again joined by Scalia), who wrote that "no principle had been articulated [by the Supreme Court] that enabled us to determine whether appellant's case fell within or without that principle."<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Dronenburg  v. Zech  |vol=746 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=1579 |court=D.C. Cir. |date=November 15, 1984 |url=http://openjurist.org/746/f2d/1579/dronenburg-v-zech |access-date=March 2, 2016}}</ref>

In 1986, President Reagan considered nominating Bork to the Supreme Court after [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Warren E. Burger]] retired. Reagan ultimately nominated then-[[Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court|Associate Justice]] [[William Rehnquist]] to be the next Chief Justice and Bork's D.C. Circuit colleague, [[Antonin Scalia]], for Rehnquist's Associate Justice seat. Some journalists and correspondents believed that if Reagan nominated Bork in 1986, Bork would have likely made the Supreme Court, as the Senate at that time was controlled by the Republicans. However, the Senate Democrats might still have fought to defeat Bork in 1986, and the Republicans' Senate majority at the time was narrow (53–47), which implies that maybe Bork still would have been defeated in 1986, especially when the six Republicans<ref>[[John Chafee]], [[Bob Packwood]], [[Arlen Specter]], [[Robert Stafford]], [[John Warner]], and [[Lowell Weicker]].</ref> who voted against Bork's 1987 nomination were not first elected in the [[1986 United States Senate elections|November 1986 Senate elections]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Somin |first=Ilya |title=The Volokh Conspiracy |access-date=December 20, 2012 |url=https://volokh.com/2012/12/20/what-if-robert-bork-had-been-nominated-in-1986-instead-of-scalia/ |date=December 20, 2012}}</ref>