Gorsuch stresses ‘candid conversations’ after Supreme Court leaks
Neil Gorsuch said that supreme Court justices need to strike a balance between openness and having private space for candid discussion. He praised public access such as live courtroom audio, saying the conversations behind the scenes are necessary for the justices to find areas of agreement and for deliberations that aren’t meant to be public.
He also noted that the reasoning for decisions is fully laid out in the written opinions, including what he considers in each case. His remarks came amid ongoing concerns about recent leaks from the court, including the early release of the draft decision in *Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization* and the later publication of leaked internal memos about the court’s “shadow docket” strategy.
Despite the controversy, Gorsuch expressed confidence in the institution, pointing to the court’s history of functioning and reaching unanimous decisions in a significant portion of cases, and he said he respects and enjoys working with colleagues appointed by Democratic presidents-even when they strongly disagree.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch addressed recent leaks from the highest court in the land on Sunday, saying the justices must balance transparency and “room for candid conversations.”
“Like everything else, it’s a balance in life,” Gorsuch said on Fox News Sunday. “We want some transparency, but we also have to leave room for candid conversations and deliberations with one another.”
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In the name of transparency, he told the network that he thinks it is “great” that there is live audio from the courtroom that allows people to listen to arguments. He said the candid conversations between the oral arguments and written opinions are necessary for the justices to “try and find where we come to agreement.”
“But do we need time to actually talk quietly with one another, to find those places where we can reach agreement? Yeah, we do. And that’s nothing new,” Gorsuch said.
Gorsuch also spoke to the fact that the justices’ bases for their decisions are all laid out in each of their written opinions, saying, “Everything that I think about a case is there, on the printed page for anybody to read, if they so choose.”
The conversations around Supreme Court transparency have come after recent notable leaks, such as the early release of the draft decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, in 2022.
More recently, 16 pages of internal court memos about the origins of the court’s “shadow docket” strategy, which came from the court’s 2016 decision to halt a former President Barack Obama-era climate plan pending judicial review, were leaked to the New York Times, which published them in April.
Though some court critics have voiced concern over whether the leaks are related to increasing political pressure on the court system, one that is founded to be apolitical, Gorsuch voiced confidence in the Supreme Court.
“We’ve been appointed by five different presidents over 30 years, and yet we’re able to resolve those cases unanimously about 40% of the time. So when you bear that in mind, I’d say the system’s working pretty much as it has for a very, very long time,” Gorsuch said.
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He also voiced his own respect and “love” for his fellow justices appointed by Democratic presidents. Gorsuch was appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2017.
“I don’t expect to persuade my colleagues in every case. I know we’re going to disagree. I’m an originalist. And Justice Breyer or Justice Sotomayor, they’re not originalists. I love them, and we have a good time together disagreeing,” Gorsuch said.
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