Neil Gorsuch Has the Big Picture Right

Gorsuch and Scalia on a fly-fishing trip

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has the big picture right, not surprisingly.  His mentor was Antonin Scalia.

Judge Gorsuch is an originalist. Like Justice Scalia, Gorsuch believes that judges should actually look at the Constitution and the Founders’ intent before interpreting what the words of the Constitution mean.  Implicit in this is the rejection of the make-it-up-as-you-go-along “living, breathing constitution” drivel you hear so often from the Left.  Gorsuch has said, if judges go by their personal beliefs, they are "little more than politicians with robes."

In one opinion (Cordova v. City of Albuquerque), Gorsuch wrote that:

• Ours is the job of interpreting the Constitution. And that document isn’t some inkblot on which litigants may project their hopes and dreams . . . but a carefully drafted text judges are charged with applying according to its original public meaning. If a party wishes to claim a constitutional right, it is incumbent on him to tell us where it lies, not to assume or stipulate with the other side that it must be in there someplace.
  
  

In another case (Gutierrez-Brizuela v. Lynch), Judge Gorsuch showed an excellent grasp of how the separation of powers in the Constitution protects our liberty.  He wrote:

• In enlightenment theory and hard won experience under a tyrannical king the founders found proof of the wisdom of a government of separated powers.
  
  

His opinion in that case indicated that Congress should make laws, the President should faithfully execute laws, and judges should only interpret laws.  His belief that each branch should stick to its proper role was on display in a Fourth Amendment case (U.S. v. Ackerman) where he was of the opinion that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a government actor for purposes of search and seizure doctrine – effectively part of the executive branch. Therefore, the Center must get a warrant from a judge before opening emails suspected to contain child pornography. 

He wrote in dissent in another case,

• If the separation of powers means anything, it must mean that the prosecutor isn't allowed to define the crimes he gets to enforce.
  
  

Defining crimes is up to the legislative branch.

His fidelity to separation of powers also comes through in his sharp criticism of the Chevron doctrine in which courts give too much deference to administrative agencies that expand the scope of laws far beyond anything the legislature wrote.  It has been said that Gorsuch will make his make mark reining in run-away administrative agencies.

He is also leery of run-away courts. In a dissent in a 2012 gun case, he wrote:

• … in our legal order it is the role of the courts to apply the law as it is written, not some different law Congress might have written in the past or might write in the future.
  
  

If it had been Gorsuch instead of Chief Justice ‘It is a tax, it isn’t a tax’ John Roberts, we might have had a different result in the Obamacare case.

Finally, Gorsuch wrote a book in 2006 criticizing assisted suicide and euthanasia. The book argues that human life is intrinsically valuable and intentional killing is always wrong.  Imagine that.  Moral absolutes, what a refreshing notion in a world fast succumbing to post-modern gibberish.

So, whether it’s originalism, the separation of powers, or the dignity and worth of the individual, Neil Gorsuch has the big picture right and is a solid pick for the next Justice of the Supreme Court.

Links

“Of Lions and Bears, Judges and Legislators, and the Legacy of Justice Scalia” by J. Neil Gorsuch (Case Western Reserve Law Review - 2016)

“Neil Gorsuch Will Protect Our Constitution as Our Next Supreme Court Justice”
http://www.teapartypatriots.org/news/neil-gorsuch-will-protect-our-constitution-as-our-next-supreme-court-justice/

“Neil Gorsuch and the living Constitution lie”
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/02/neil_gorsuch_and_the_living_constitution_lie.html

“Trump's Supreme Court pick adheres closely to Constitution”
http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Trump-s-Supreme-Court-pick-adheres-closely-to-10910758.php

“Neil Gorsuch Should be Hailed by Privacy Advocates”
http://fairfaxfreecitizen.com/2017/02/08/neil-gorsuch-should-be-hailed-by-privacy-advocates/

“Tenth Circuit: Accessing email is a ‘search’ under the Jones trespass test”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/09/tenth-circuit-accessing-email-is-a-search-under-the-jones-trespass-test/

“Trump’s Supreme Court Pick Wary of ‘Politicians With Robes’”
http://fortune.com/2017/02/04/judge-neil-gorsuch-trump/

The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia by Neil Gorsuch

Resource - www.confirmgorsuch.com/

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