It’s 1987. The scene is Capitol Hill. Ronald Reagan has nominated whip-smart but gruff appeals court judge Robert Bork for a seat on the US Supreme Court. Bork’s hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee are chaired by a sharp young senator with an eye on the presidency, Joseph R. Biden. And it’s all on the line: the right to privacy and reproductive freedom, civil rights, racial and gender equality. Also the presidency. As solicitor genera…