Justice Neil Gorsuch had a clear message when asked about President Biden’s new Supreme Court reform proposal: “Be careful.”
“You won’t be surprised that I didn’t address what is now a political issue during a presidential election year. I don’t think that would be helpful,” Gorsuch began when asked about the proposal on “Fox News Sunday.”
But the conservative judge then indicated that he had “an idea to add”, also highlighting the importance of an independent judiciary.
“And so, I just say, be careful,” Gorsuch told host Shannon Bream.
Biden announced the tripartite proposal last week, calling for 18-year term limits for judges, an enforceable code of ethics and a constitutional amendment to counteract the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity ruling.
It marked a major shift for the president, who had long resisted calls from the left for reform. The announcement was met with condemnation from Republicans, who declared the proposal dead on arrival and considered it an attempt to overturn the conservative-majority court.
Gorsuch’s rare Fox interview came days before the scheduled release of his new book on Tuesday, “Overgoverned: the human cost of excessive laws”, which Gorsuch co-wrote with one of his former clerks.
In the book, Gorsuch details what he sees as the downsides of overregulation and an explosion of laws.
“As a judge for 18 years, I just saw case after case where ordinary Americans — just trying to live their lives, not hurt anyone, raise their families — were being unexpectedly beaten by the laws,” Gorsuch said on Fox.
Gorsuch is expected to hit the road later this week to promote the book, stopping at the Nixon and Reagan presidential libraries.
“On the one hand, we need laws that keep us free and safe,” he told Bream in the interview.
“On the other hand, if we have too many laws, we undermine these same freedoms and also our aspirations for equality, because who can deal with a world with so many laws?” Gorsuch continued.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
