American Notes JUDICIARY

For Robert Bork, the battle may be over, but the war goes on. The White House announced that President Reagan's controversial Supreme Court nominee would step down from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. In his resignation letter, Bork stated that he wants the time and freedom to rebut charges of right-wing zealotry that liberal lobbying groups fired at him last year during his unsuccessful Senate confirmation fight. "This was a public campaign of miseducation," wrote Bork, "to which, as a sitting federal judge, I felt I could not publicly respond."

Had it not been for the Supreme Court nomination, Bork might have left the bench earlier. He had not hired law clerks for the coming term, and he was obviously restless. "I don't think he finds judging all that interesting," says his D.C. circuit colleague Abner Mikva. Why, then, did Bork hang on so long after his defeat? Says Heritage Foundation Legal Expert Bruce Fein: "He didn't want this to look like the peevish decision of an upset boy."