Liberal journalists are worried about Neil Gorsuch. The October 16 issue of Time magazine fretted of the newly-minted conservative Supreme Court justice: “Does Justice Neil Gorsuch talk too much?" Writer Tessa Berenson touted liberal critics complaining about Gorsuch “ruffling some feathers.”
It didn’t take long for the newest member to make his presence known on the Court. Gorsuch, a conservative judge nominated by President Trump and confirmed in April, had been sitting in his first oral argument last spring for just 10 minutes before he asked his first question. Over the next hour, he asked 21 more, posing more questions at his first oral argument than any of his eight colleagues did at theirs. He blew past Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s previous record of 15 questions at her first oral argument, according to Adam Feldman, who runs a blog tracking Supreme Court data.
That’s rare for a freshman justice. By the Court’s unwritten rules, new members are often seen more they are heard. “I think he has ruffled some feathers on the Court,” Garrett Epps, a professor at University of Baltimore School of Law, says of the newest justice.
Eventually, she got to the real question: “In its new term beginning October 2, the Supreme Court will consider many pressing questions. Can a baker refuse to make a cake for a gay wedding? Can states redraw districts to help a political party? And, does Justice Neil Gorsuch talk too much?”
Berenson cited another liberal, activist Nan Aaron:
Justices often give speeches to liberal or conservative groups, but Democrats are upset by the optics of Gorsuch’s recent appearances. “Generally, Supreme Court justices, whether appointed by Democrats or Republicans, do their best to avoid any outward support for an administration,” says Nan Aron, president of liberal judicial advocacy group Alliance for Justice, who argues Gorsuch has “erased any possibility that he is anything other than a partisan.”
To be fair, the journalist also included some conservative fans of Gorsuch. But how often have Barack Obama’s appointees been chastised for “talking too much?”
When Gorsuch was nominated, outlets such as CBS and the Washington Post fretted that he was either "right" or "far-right." In contrast, Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by Barack Obama, was "not nearly as liberal" as you may have heard.
