Blogging vs. borking

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, L. Gordon Crovitz asks whether another “borking” could succeed in the internet age. He notes that “there was no Internet [back in 1987] to correct the record —- no legal blogs such as today’s SCOTUSblog, AbovetheLaw, Volokh Conspiracy and Overlawyered.”

The blogs cited by Crovitz are all good. However, the best work I saw during the confirmation battles waged against conservtive nominees during the internet era was performed on Ed Whelan’s NRO Bench Memos blog. See here for an example.

The internet is a two-edged sword in the confirmation process. By providing room for so many voices, it presents the possiblity of attacks on nominees even more vicious, and specious, than those lodged against Judge Bork. However, as Crovitz says, it also provides a powerful forum for correcting the record — something that, given the bias of the MSM, previously was almost impossible to do in the case of conservative nominees.

On balance, blogs reduce the prospect of future “borking” by providing a testing ground for charges lodged agains nominees. The current marketplace of ideas is imperfect, but it’s better than old monopolistic idea store of the past.

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