Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said Tuesday that he has confidence in the U.S. and that those who don’t should “look elsewhere.”
“This country has been through a lot of challenges and always risen resiliently to them. Whether it’s the civil rights movement, surviving through our Civil War or today’s challenges. Whatever they may be, I’ve got great confidence in America and I say to those who don’t: ‘Look elsewhere. Where else would you rather be?’ ” he said in an interview with CNN.
{mosads}Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, also took issue with the notion that the addition of conservative justices such as himself will result in a rightward turn on the court.
“I just don’t view judges that way. I reject that idea of how judges operate,” he said.
“About half, 40 percent, of our cases are decided unanimously,” he added. “The 5-4 cases, they make up a quarter of our docket, maybe a third. Those numbers have been consistent since the Second World War. The only thing that’s new is that nothing is new.”
President Trump appointed Gorsuch to the court in 2017. The appointment came more than a year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, as Senate Republicans refused to take up then-President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland.
The Supreme Court’s next term will begin Oct. 7.