WASHINGTON – Conservatives wanted Robert H. Bork on the Supreme Court. They wound up with Anthony Kennedy, the key vote in reaffirming a woman’s right to an abortion.

The fight over Bork’s failed Supreme Court nomination redefined the Senate confirmation process and made him a symbol of the nation’s culture wars. The political battle that erupted over Bork has now, years later, expanded to stall nominees for far lesser judicial posts, and nominees themselves have curbed their responses to questioning to avoid his fate.

Had Bork, who died Wednesday at age 85, prevailed and become a justice, his vote would have dramatically changed the court.