A Republic, If You Can Keep It

by Neil Gorsuch

  I want to thank my students and former law clerks, too, for challenging, refining, and contributing to many of the ideas that appear in this book. Louise and I are so proud of you and grateful for your presence in our lives. Our law clerk family includes Mike Davis, Jessica Greenstone, Jamil Jaffer, Heather Kirby Lyions, Patrick Price, Mark Champoux, Ian Kellogg, Tim Meyer, Allison Jones Rushing, Theresa Wardon Benz, Jane Nitze, Matt Owen, Jonathan Papik, Leah Bressack, Josh Goodbaum, Michael McGinley, Lucas Walker, Katherine Crawford Yarger, Ben Strawn, Eric Tung, Stephen Yelderman, Tess Hand Bender, Dwight Carswell, Paul Dubbeling, Jason Murray, Sean Jackowitz, Jessica Livingston, Josh Parker, Jeff Quilici, Matthew Glover, Michael Kenneally, Leigh Llewelyn, Marissa Miller, Jerry Cedrone, David Feder, Hamilton Jordan, Jr., Collin White, Alex Harris, Stefan Hasselblad, Jordan Moran, Allison Turbiville, Joe Celentino, Nathan Jack, Michael Qin, Dan Rauch, Ethan Davis, Alexander Kazam, Paul Mezzina, and Tobi Young.

  Without Jane Nitze and David Feder, my collaborators, former clerks, and friends, this book simply would not have been possible. I am deeply grateful that they took time off before starting their new jobs to help assemble, develop, and refine the materials here. Their vision, insight, and enthusiasm always makes working with them a joy.

  Twenty years later and I am indebted once more to Jessica Bartlow for her amazing editorial help and great friendship. Now, as well, I owe a happy new debt to Arielle Goldberg and Frances Lataif for their eagle eyes. Many of the pieces here I wrote with the help of my former judicial assistant, Holly Cody, who was and remains a cherished friend to me and mentor to my clerks.

  Steve Benz, Ethan Davis, Jamil Jaffer, Greg Katsas, Alex Kazam, Ray Kethledge, Chris Mammen, Paul Mezzina, Tim Meyer, Jeff Quilici, Jeff Sutton, Grace and Michael Trent, Eric Tung, Tim Tymkovich, Steve Yelderman, and Tobi Young generously commented on pieces or the whole of early drafts. I am grateful not only for the many improvements they suggested but for the friendship their thoughtfulness represented. Mary Reynics and Tina Constable at Crown made the process of putting this book together fun and I am indebted for their wise advice along the way.

  Finally, to Louise, Emma, and Belinda: Your love and support at life’s peaks and through its wildernesses means more to me than I am able to express. You are the great blessings of my life.

  A NOTE ON SOURCES

  This book includes speeches, essays, and judicial opinions written over the course of more than a decade. To make these pieces more accessible, I have revised and excerpted liberally and sometimes combined certain pieces with others, and I have done so without marking these alterations, additions, or deletions. Many of the pieces here have not been previously published and they contain no citations; others have been published with many citations and footnotes. To make the book more readable, I have omitted these citations and footnotes too. But many of the ideas discussed here are ancient and borrowed, sometimes from sources too long ingrained and dimly remembered to be faithfully recorded—but borrowed gratefully all the same. The reader interested in reference materials and notes may consult the following previously published speeches, essays, and opinions. I am grateful to the publishers of the speeches and essays for allowing them to be presented here.

  SPEECHES AND ESSAYS

  “Access to Affordable Justice,” 100 Judicature 46 (2016)

  “In Tribute: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy,” 132 Harv. L. Rev. 1 (2018)

  “Intention and the Allocation of Risk,” in Reason, Morality, and Law: The Philosophy of John Finnis, ed. John Keown and Robert P. George (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). Reprinted here under the title “Of Intentions and Consequences.”

  “Law’s Irony,” 37 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 743 (2014)

  “Of Lions and Bears,” 66 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 905 (2016)

  “On Precedent,” adapted from Bryan Garner et al., The Law of Judicial Precedent (St. Paul, MN: Thomson Reuters, 2016). Reprinted with the permission of Thomson Reuters.

  JUDICIAL OPINIONS

  Alejandre-Gallegos v. Holder, 598 Fed. Appx. 604 (10th Cir. 2015)

  A.M. v. Holmes, 830 F.3d 1123 (10th Cir. 2016)

  American Atheists, Inc. v. Davenport, 637 F.3d 1095 (10th Cir. 2010)

  Caring Hearts v. Burwell, 824 F.3d 968 (10th Cir. 2016)

  Carpenter v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 2206 (2016)

  Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, 814 F.3d 1129 (10th Cir. 2016)

  Gutierrez-Brizuela v. Lynch, 834 F.3d 1142 (10th Cir. 2016)

  Henson v. Santander, 137 S.Ct. 1718 (2017)

  Hester v. United States, 139 S.Ct. 509 (2019)

  Mathis v. Shulkin, 137 S.Ct. 1994 (2017)

  Sessions v. Dimaya, 138 S.Ct. 1204 (2018)

  United States v. Carloss, 818 F.3d 988 (10th Cir. 2016)

  United States v. Games-Perez, 695 F.3d 1104 (10th Cir. 2012)

  United States v. Nichols, 784 F.3d 666 (10th Cir. 2015)

  United States v. Rentz, 777 F.3d 1105 (10th Cir. 2015)

  PHOTO CREDITS

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  THIS PAGE: Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

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  THIS PAGE: Jaclyn Nash, Smithsonian Institution, courtesy of the Supreme Court of the United States

  THIS PAGE: Paul Nitze

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  NEIL M. GORSUCH is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. A Colorado native, he served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which is based in Denver and hears appeals from six western states, before his appointment to the Supreme Court in April 2017. He has also worked as a senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he helped oversee its civil litigating divisions; as a partner at a law firm; as a law professor; and as a law clerk for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia; his law degree from Harvard, where he studied as a Truman scholar; and a doctorate in legal philosophy from Oxford, where he studied as a Marshall scholar.

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