Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is concerned about the explosion of laws in America.
In his new book, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, co-authored with Janie Nitze, he writes that looking back on his career as a judge, he realized that he had “seen too many cases where the sheer volume and complexity of the law had overwhelmed ordinary people.”
Indeed, “some laws are essential to our lives and our liberties,” he states at the beginning of the book.
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But “too many laws”, the justices said, “can put those very freedoms at risk and even undermine respect for the law itself”.
The new book, released on August 6th and already an Amazon bestseller, is a collection of real people’s stories who are caught up in the chaos and confusion of “too many laws” just for living and working — “too many statutes, rules, regulations, orders, decrees, decrees” — without even knowing why.
Justice Neil Gorsuch stands in a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. His new book is “Over Ruled.” (Erin Shaff/The New York Times via The Associated Press, Pool, File)
Lest you think so, Gorsuch is quick to point out that someone in his position, even as a justice on the nation’s highest court, “can’t do much” about the problem of legal overcrowding in America.
“The best I can do is share with you what I’ve seen from my unique perspective in our nation’s legal system.”
“My job as a judge is to apply the law, and the best thing I can do is share with you what I see from my unique perspective in our legal system.”
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And he tells the stories in a direct, accessible way (“This is not an academic piece,” he points out) that both informs and teaches.
In “Over Ruled,” authors Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze write, “What happens to the nation’s promise of equal treatment when our laws become so numerous and complex that only the wealthy and well-connected few can understand them?” (Harper)
Of all the cases he has had, some of the stories shared include: Business Ownerfamilies, fishermen, entrepreneurs, and even magicians – all of these people have, in one way or another, been caught up in legal battles, hobbled, shocked, and had their lives changed forever by a vast array of narrow and rigid federal regulations.
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How bad is it?
“We now have a federal criminal statute that is so sweeping that one scholar has said, ‘There is no person in the United States over the age of 18 who cannot be charged with a federal crime,'” Gorsuch said.
While Gorsuch points out serious violations of individual liberty that have resulted from legal overreach, he also highlights examples of absurd and almost unbelievable laws that are still in place.
Gorsuch was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Donald Trump and has served in that position since 2017. From left to right: Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. From left to right: Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Photo by Fred Schilling, U.S. Supreme Court Collection (United States Supreme Court)
For example, it is a federal crime to sell a mattress without a warning label.
It is also an offence to “consult with persons known to be pirates” and to “suggest or promote the intoxicating properties of wine”.
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Moreover, he makes no attempt to hide what has happened during the COVID-19 pandemic: “The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has asserted its authority to issue orders requiring approximately 84 million Americans to wear masks and get tested at their own expense or get vaccinated with the newly developed vaccines that have been rushed to market under the initiative known as Operation Warp Speed.”
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Through it all — through his concern that so much of every American’s life and happiness is “decided far from home” — Gorsuch remains a “hopeless optimist,” writing that the nation has “overcome difficult odds time and time again” since its founding.
And here we are, almost 250 years later.
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Going forward, he claims he wants “the rule of law designed to guarantee fair notice, equal treatment, and room for individuals to thrive” and that he will “never gamble with the American people.”
