During an interview aired on Monday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch addressed CBS reporter Major Garrett’s assertions that the Court was stripping rights from Americans by overturning “settled” cases like Roe v. Wade. Gorsuch was among the six justices who voted to uphold a Mississippi law in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, which banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
When Garrett questioned Gorsuch about the critics of the Court’s rulings, the justice responded by asserting that the Supreme Court was actually empowering Americans to make their own decisions. “For those who would say, ‘But I feel something’s been ripped away from me,’ you would say?” Garrett asked Gorsuch. He responded: “I would say that we’re taking it back to you. In a democracy, you’re in the driver’s seat. You’re the sovereign. Those famous three first words of the Constitution empower you. Do you really want me deciding everything for you?”
Earlier, Gorsuch told Garrett that the Supreme Court was not banning abortion but rather shifting the decision back to the American people, allowing them to determine the issue rather than having it decided by the Court.
“There are people who watch this right now and say I thought I understood what Roe v. Wade meant in our country,” Garrett told Gorsuch during the interview. “I thought I understood what affirmative action in college admission meant, and this court told me I didn’t understand what that meant, and I wrongly relied on things that I thought were settled. What would you say to those?”
“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.” The Justice also defended the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in college admissions when pressed by Garrett. “What did we decide?” Gorsuch asked rhetorically. “We decided that all people are created equal, that it’s not acceptable in this country to discriminate on the basis of race.”
Gorsuch also discussed his book “Over-Ruled: The Human Toll Of Too Much Law” during the interview. He mentioned that an explosion of laws has affected ordinary Americans who didn’t mean any harm. “I just saw so many cases where ordinary Americans — decent, hard-working Americans — were just trying to make their way in life,” Gorsuch told Garrett. “They weren’t trying to hurt anybody, and yet they were caught up in the legal system.”
WATCH:
Just a master class schooling by Justice Neil Gorsuch when whacked from the left by CBS’s Major Garrett.
Gorusch: “I read the other day that…I agreed with Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson something like 45 percent of the time. That’s the court I know.”… pic.twitter.com/PdGR3IHlq6
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 5, 2024
CBS’s Major Garrett: “How about affirmative action?”
Justice Neil Gorsuch: “Much the same thing. What did we decide? We decided that all people are created equal, that it’s not acceptable in this country to discriminate on the basis of race.” pic.twitter.com/eLJQ42RxJc
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 5, 2024