The justice noted that even law clerks who come to his office fail to recognize a portrait of Madison hanging above a fireplace.
Gorsuch spoke passionately about the benefits and importance of an independent judiciary. He said, “as difficult as our times sometimes seem, we are very blessed.” He asked rhetorically, “how many places in the world can you go where you can rest assured that you can have an independent judge decide your case?” Gorsuch singled out North Korea for having an expansive bill of rights that promises its citizens a right to free education, free medical and relaxation. He joked that he would enjoy a right to relaxation, but he argued that those North Korean rights are “not worth the parchment they’re written on because you don’t have judges to enforce them.”
Gorsuch then moved on to the second concern he has noticed during his time as a judge. He listed civility, human decency and kindness as “under assault in our society right now, and in our profession.” He criticized civil litigation specifically for its lack of civility and expressed concerns about civility becoming a bad word or passé. He wrapped up his point by stressing to the audience that people they may disagree with “love this country as much as you do.”
Just last week, Chief Justice Roberts said it wasn't the Court's job to educate the public. But perhaps opening up the Court to cameras would help with Justice Gorsuch's concerns and not at all detract from the Court's role.
12 comments:
Gorsuch's idol - Nino Scalia - was the least civil judge in the court's recent history.
Or perhaps opening up the court to cameras would encourage more spectacles like we see in Senate confirmation hearings.
Why was Alyssa Milano in the camera shot the whole time that Kavanaugh was speaking? Sensationalism, fame, celebrity, and tribalism (aka partisanship). No bueno for a civil and independent judiciary.
I think it is no coincidence that the most sheltered branch also happens to be the most independent and civil. Not that its perfect, but as compared to the other two, its a shining star.
If you don't think that federal judges are politicians you're fooling yourself.
Gorsuch is so out of touch!
Anyone who has seen Hamilton (the hit Broadway show)knows where Jefferson was at the time.
Gorsuch went to Georgetown Prep?
Most people know that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence but think it is part of the constitution so, ipso facto, they assume the latter as fact. As for 1:42, you are probably correct but i developed a way to get around this ugly truism. Remember pro wrestling circa 1979? In order to feel good about the justice of it all, you had to suspend your sense of disbelief for two hours and just go along for the ride. You felt good on the way out the door as decency justice, and the American Way prevailed. Do the same when you enter the courtroom.
Hard to feel that way when the end result is the person standing next to me goes to prison.
Profiles in Courage by JFK, actually written by Ted Sorenson
Every district court order. actually written by law clerks.
Re 2:20: His Harvard thesis "Why England Slept" was written by NYT columnist Arthur Krock who was paid by that eminent historian Joseph P. Kennedy with proceeds from 1920's style pump and dump schemes and bootleg whiskey. What a country!!!!
hey 1203, and in back to school rodney dangerfield had the actual author write his term paper about kurt vonnegut's book.
hey 328 u r so rite. i drafted 20 orders when i worked for a federal district judge as unpaid intern for 8 months. it got so boring that i turned down a 2 year clerkship for a federal magistrate. use the same cases over and over on whether to grant or deny motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment. all i did was read and research all day, by the time i got home all i could do was watch tv. federal judge very overrated, do not need the best for usssct because as you said the 4 clerks do 90% of the work. If we took the clerks away, they would not have to write ridiculously complicated opinions 50 pages long that only law review people know how to write(string citations and what have you- paragraphs 2/3 of a page long with 3 sentences and the rest are citations); then we could have more cases decided by the ussct and no more abortion, gerrymandering shit.
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