Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch says Americans are ‘surprised’ by the laws

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is concerned about the surge in federal statutes in America.

In his new book, “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law,” co-written with Janie Nitze, he says that as he reflects on his years as a judge, he realizes “that I have seen many — so many — cases in which the sheer volume and complexity of our laws have swallowed up ordinary people.”

Sure, “certain rights are essential to our lives and our freedoms,” he notes at the beginning of the book.

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But “too much law” can put those very freedoms at risk, “and even undermine respect for the law itself,” says a Supreme Court justice.

The new book, published Aug. 6 and already an Amazon bestseller, is a collection of stories of real people who got caught — just living their lives and going about their business — in the chaos and confusion of “too much law.” They got caught without any idea why, because of “our plethora of statutes, rules, regulations, orders, edicts and decrees.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch stands during a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, April 23, 2021. His new book is titled “Over Ruled.” (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

Lest readers think otherwise, Gorsuch is quick to note that there is “little” a person in his position, even a justice of the highest court in the land, can do to address the problem of too much law in America.

“The best I can do is share with you what I have seen from my unique perspective in our legal system.”

“As a judge, my job is to apply the law…The best I can do is share with you what I have seen from my unique perspective in our legal system.”

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And that’s how he tells stories—in a direct and accessible way (“this is not a scholarly work,” he notes). Stories teach as they inform.

In Over Ruled, authors Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze write, “What does it mean for our country’s promise of equal treatment when our laws become so numerous and complex that only a wealthy and powerful few can navigate them?” (Harper)

Among the stories he tells—all the cases he has encountered in his career—are the stories of local businessmen, families, fishermen, entrepreneurs, and even an illusionist. In one way or another, all of these people are caught up in legal battles because of a huge mass of narrow and precise federal laws that trip them up, limit them, shock them, and change their lives forever.

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How bad is it?

Gorsuch argues that “we now have so many federal criminal statutes, covering so many issues, that one scholar has suggested that ‘there is no person in the United States over the age of 18 who cannot be charged with some federal crime.’”

Gorsuch highlights serious infringements on personal liberties that have resulted from an excess of law, and also points to absurd and almost unbelievable examples of laws that are still in force.

Gorsuch was nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Donald Trump and has served on the court since 2017. Seated, left to right, are Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. Standing, left to right, are Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan, Neil M. Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett. Photo by Fred Schilling, U.S. Supreme Court Collection (United States Supreme Court)

For example, selling a mattress without a warning label is a federal crime.

It is also an offence to “consult with a known pirate” and it is an offence to “advertise wine by suggesting its intoxicating properties”.

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And he doesn’t shy away from what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when “the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration … asserted that it had the authority to issue an order requiring some 84 million Americans to wear masks and get tested at their own expense or take newly developed vaccines being introduced under something called Operation Warp Speed.”

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Despite all this — despite concerns that so many issues affecting the life and well-being of every American “are decided far from home” — Gorsuch remains “an incorrigible optimist,” he writes, and argues that the nation has “repeatedly overcome overwhelming odds” since its inception.

And “almost 250 years later, here we are.”

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Moving forward, he hopes for “a rule of law designed to provide fair notice, equal treatment, and room for individual advancement” — and says he would “never bet against the American people.”