JOE MAKING THE cOURT MORE CONSERVATIVE:

Many commentators were struck by Jackson's profession of "originalism," which strengthened Kagan's stunning liberal embrace of what had been a conservative doctrine. "We're all originalists now," Kagan declared at her confirmation hearing in 2010. Jackson put it like this: "I am focusing on original public meaning because I'm constrained to interpret the text." This, she said, "is a constraint on my authority." And in general, Jackson emphasized that the basic function of the Constitution is to limit the power of the federal government, and that the meaning of constitutional provisions constrains the power of the judiciary.

"I do not believe that there is a living Constitution," she said, "in the sense that it's changing and it's infused with my own policy perspective or the policy perspective of the day. Instead, the Supreme Court has made clear that when you're interpreting the Constitution you're looking at the text at the time of the founding."

These declarations come from a nominee who's expected to be a liberal bulwark on the court. I think they're stunning, and indicate the victory of Reagan-era conservative legal theory. Jackson didn't get "Borked," though I'll always associate Josh Hawley with the phrase "child pornography," which he hurled at her repeatedly just because he didn't seem able to think about anything else. But she Borked herself in the sense that she fundamentally agrees with Bork's theory of constitutional interpretation, and Scalia's, Thomas'.

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