Conservative Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch ably dispatched the talking points of a liberal shill journalist who came after him in a CBS interview.
The justice was asked to respond to accusations that the court had "ripped away rights" from Americans by overturning affirmative action and Roe v. Wade.
When the court overturned Roe v. Wade, the issue of abortion was returned to the people, Gorsuch said.
“I would say those are deeply complex legal questions on which reasonable minds can, of course, and do disagree, and that when it comes to Roe v. Wade, for example, what did the court decide?” Gorsuch responded.
“[It] decided that we the people should answer that question, not nine people sitting in Washington, D.C.”
Liberals have argued the court is somehow endangering "democracy," but Gorsuch flipped that narrative on its head.
The nine unelected judges on the Supreme Court should not be making policy for millions of people on controversial issues like abortion, he said. Most democracies settle these questions at the ballot box.
"All I can say is I don't know better than you do on these questions, and that most major Western democracies have decided these questions through the ballot box," Gorsuch said.
"In a democracy, you’re in the driver’s seat. You’re the sovereign,” Gorsuch said. “Those famous three first words of the Constitution empower you. Do you really want me deciding everything for you?”
Likewise, the court's ruling on affirmative action upheld the democratic principle of equality before the law.
“What did we decide?” Gorsuch said. “We decided that all people are created equal, that it’s not acceptable in this country to discriminate on the basis of race.”
When asked if the court should "care" about "public perception," Gorsuch responded by emphasizing the importance of an independent judiciary.
"An independent judiciary — our founders fought a revolution for it, because they knew what it was like to have a judiciary that was responsive to the crown, to a whimsical king, and they didn't want that for this country," he said.
Gorsuch made some subtle points that probably went over the shill reporter's head. Then again, that's why Gorsuch is working for the Supreme Court, and not CBS.
