Courts and judges. Especially in these times.

In the vice-presidential debate Thursday night, in some closing remarks, Sen. Joe Biden gave voters another keen reminder of the importance and consequences of electing the best leaders.

IFILL: Final question tonight, before your closing
statements, starting with you, Senator Biden. Can you think of a single
issue — and this is to cast light for people who are just trying to get
to know you in your final debate, your only debate of this year — can
you think of a single issue, policy issue, in which you were forced to
change a long-held view in order to accommodate changed circumstances?

BIDEN: Yes, I can. When I got to the United States Senate and went
on the Judiciary Committee as a young lawyer, I was of the view and had
been trained in the view that the only thing that mattered was whether
or not a nominee appointed, suggested by the president had a judicial
temperament, had not committed a crime of moral turpitude, and was —
had been a good student.

And it didn’t take me long — it was hard to change, but it didn’t
take me long, but it took about five years for me to realize that the
ideology of that judge makes a big difference.

That’s why I led the fight against Judge Bork. Had he been on the
court, I suspect there would be a lot of changes that I don’t like and
the American people wouldn’t like, including everything from Roe v.
Wade to issues relating to civil rights and civil liberties.

And so that — that — that was one of the intellectual changes that
took place in my career as I got a close look at it. And that’s why I
was the first chairman of the Judiciary Committee to forthrightly state
that it matters what your judicial philosophy is. The American people
have a right to understand it and to know it.

But I did change on that, and — and I’m glad I did.

(Go back and look at what happened in the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Robert Bork to see what Biden is bragging about.)