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Neil Gorsuch on Civil Rights
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Desegregation lawsuits won critical civil-rights victories
There's no doubt that constitutional lawsuits have secured critical civil-rights victories, with the desegregation cases culminating in Brown v. Board of Education topping the list. But relying on judges and lawyers rather than elected leaders and the
ballot box [is dangerous] as the primary means of effecting their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide to the use of vouchers for private-school education. This overweening addiction to the courtroom as the place to debate
social policy is bad for the country and bad for the judiciary. In the legislative arena, especially when the country is closely divided, compromises tend to be the rule the day. But when judges rule this or that policy unconstitutional,
there's little room for compromise: One side must win, the other must lose. In constitutional litigation, too, experiments and pilot programs--real-world laboratories in which ideas can be assessed on the results they produce--are not possible.
Source: National Review column by Neil Gorsuch
, Feb 7, 2005
Gay marriage might win lawsuits but loses at ballot box
The Left's alliance with trial lawyers and its dependence on constitutional litigation to achieve its social goals risks political atrophy. Liberals may win a victory on gay marriage when preaching to the choir before like-minded judges in
Massachusetts. But in failing to reach out and persuade the public generally, they invite exactly the sort of backlash we saw in November when gay marriage was rejected in all eleven states where it was on the ballot.
During the New Deal, liberals recognized that the ballot box and elected branches are generally the appropriate
engines of social reform, and liberals used both to spectacular effect--instituting profound social changes that remain deeply ingrained in society today.
Source: National Review column by Neil Gorsuch
, Feb 7, 2005
Page last updated: Sep 21, 2020