Supreme Court

Neil Gorsuch Isn't The Justice We Need, But He's The Justice We Deserve

So far he's been boorish and juvenile on the Court... and that's kinda what he was sent there to be.

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Why so serious? (Photo by Getty)

When Senate Republicans broke over 200 years of precedent to stonewall a nominee that a few years earlier they explicitly called a “consensus nominee,” anyone willing to rise above their personal politics in either direction harbored deep concerns about the erosion of the constitutional norms. Maybe this was the inevitable result of the successful Democratic effort to reject Judge Bork. Maybe that inevitably followed from the successful conservative filibuster of Abe Fortas. There’s some measure of blame to go around if one is so inclined, but what happened last year was more than the slow march of partisan shenanigans. It was a constitutional hack that would have flummoxed the Framers — so much for Originalism! — and a procedural gremlin haunting future generations that may never be put down.

It was norm breaking.

And, with the right kind of cynicism, hilariously so. Mitch McConnell justified blocking Judge Garland on the grounds that the voters should be heard. Then Hillary Clinton got millions more votes. Shockingly, McConnell lost interest in hearing the voters. That’s funny. In that “some men just want to see the world burn” sort of way.

There’s another Dark Knight quote that sprang to mind after reading yesterday’s Linda Greenhouse column — which was awesome because it was Linda Greenhouse doing Linda Greenhouse things — recapping Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court rookie season. Or, more accurately and perhaps fittingly, a perversion of a Dark Knight quote. Neil Gorsuch isn’t the justice America needs, but he’s the one we deserve.

She breaks down the cub justice’s brash behavior over the course of the 13 cases he heard this Term and comes to the firm conclusion that Neil Gorsuch, for all the gushing about “credentials” and “pedigree” from FedSoc sycophants, is just “Donald Trump’s life-tenured judicial avatar.” Donald Trump with a robe, if you will. Or, since aides say Trump wears a bathrobe most of the day, maybe we should say “he’s just Trump with good hair.”

Greenhouse charts his “snarky tone oozing disrespect” that’s more at home in an Above the Law column than a Supreme Court opinion. If Chief Justice Roberts sees his sports corollary as an umpire “calling balls and strikes,” Neil Gorsuch is Skip Bayless recklessly pontificating with that delicious aftertaste of veiled racial animus.

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There’s his petulant domination of oral argument in Perry v. Merit Systems — a 7-2 opinion — from which he dissented with a condescending lecture for the majority about the legislative process that showed all the depth of understanding of a Schoolhouse Rock cartoon. There’s the breach of professional courtesy in calling out a consensus-building Chief Justice footnote. And the substance-free dissent in the Arkansas case, written solely to throw shade at Justice Kennedy. No wonder he didn’t get his hug.

Greenhouse notes that “whether out of ignorance or by deliberate choice, Neil Gorsuch is a norm breaker.”

And that’s what we deserve. Hell, it was norm breaking that put the guy on the Court in the first place! To approach the job with the deference of, say, Merrick Garland, would be an insult to his appointment.

Hey, you may not be happy about it, but this is a country that worries more about the Kardashians than carbon emissions. It’s a country where a woman can vote to deport her own husband and earnestly act shocked. “Patriots” get mad about the Declaration of Independence. What do norms even mean when a country flirts with political nihilism? All bets are off.

Yes, this is what we deserve. This is a country that elected — through its quirky, outdated, intentionally anti-democratic system — a vain man-child with a grasp of policy that extends a mere 140 characters who views insults and vague threats as responsible political discourse. Why shouldn’t the latest justice be someone installed in his seat by an intentionally anti-democratic system to fire off dissents channeling Ayn Rand with fortune cookie flair?

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If America wants to take this wild bobsled to civic ruin, then it doesn’t deserve a Supreme Court tending the brake. It’s gonna be a hell of a ride.

Trump’s Life-Tenured Judicial Avatar [New York Times]

Earlier: The Most Awkward Moment From Gorsuch’s Swearing In

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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