Robert Bork dies at 85

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ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork has died at a hospital in Arlington, Va., of heart disease, his family told several news organizations. He was 85.

Bork died early Wednesday morning after a history of heart problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition, FoxNews.com reported. The report said a funeral is planned for Saturday.

Bork was a divisive figure, firing special prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973 on the orders of President Richard Nixon as the president tried to contain the Watergate scandal.

President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the high court in 1987, but he went down on a 58-42 vote in the U.S. Senate. Fox said the defeat was one of the widest margins in U.S. history.

"Borked" became a word to symbolize a massive political attack against a judicial nominee.

Then Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who was a student of Bork's at Yale Law School and later U.S. president, was one of those who testified against him in the Senate, The Washington Post reported.