Former federal judge and conservative legal scholar Robert Bork died early Wednesday at his Virginia home, his family confirmed to CNN. He was 85.

Perhaps best known for his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Bork was rejected for the post after a contentious confirmation battle led by left-leaning groups that opposed his conservative judicial philosophies.

Bork had recently served as a senior legal adviser to Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. He was a solicitor general during the Nixon administration and first gained notoriety for carrying out the president's order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal in 1973, an episode known as the Saturday Night Massacre.

But it was the Senate's rejection of his high court nomination that earned the conservative Bork a political legacy -- symbolic of the contentious, partisan nature of congressional confirmations.

Bork was also known as a staunch advocate for "originalism," a principle that defends the original intent of the Constitution.

In recent years, Bork became a well-regarded conservative voice on legal and constitutional matters, as well as the author of several books including "Slouching Toward Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline." He was also a frequent commentator.

He told CNN in 2005 that he had to endure his failed nomination as a metaphor. To "Bork" someone has entered the popular lexicon as attacking a public figure in the media for partisan gain.

"My name became a verb," he said. "And I regard that as one form of immortality."

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a longtime friend, described Bork as "one of the most influential legal scholars of the past 50 years."

"His impact on legal thinking in the fields of Antitrust and Constitutional Law was profound and lasting," said Scalia. "More important for the final accounting, he was a good man and a loyal citizen. May he rest in peace."