Bitter Fight Behind Him, Justice Gorsuch Starts Day With Relish.
'About 10 minutes into the first argument, Justice Gorsuch asked a half-dozen questions in a row. The case, about where Civil Service and discrimination claims may be filed, was “unbelievably complicated,” as Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. noted.
“Who wrote this statute?” Justice Alito asked. “Someone who takes pleasure in pulling wings off of flies?”
But Justice Gorsuch approached the case with relish, and he made what is likely to become one of his signature points, that the court’s job is limited to reading the words of the statute under review.
“Looking at the plain words of the statute,” he told a lawyer, Christopher Landau. “If you could just help me with that.”
Justice Gorsuch grew a little self-conscious as he kept pressing. “I’m sorry for taking up so much time,” he said. “I apologize.”
Later, when Mr. Landau started reading the statutory text aloud, Justice Gorsuch said: “Keep going. Keep going.”
As the lawyer and the justice examined the language together, Mr. Landau, in a tone of pleased surprise, said, “I think I am maybe emphatically agreeing with you.”
Justice Gorsuch welcomed the comment. “I hope so,” he said, to laughter. . .
justice Gorsuch returned to his by now usual refrain. “Why shouldn’t we follow the plain language and the traditional understanding of the word ‘action’?” he asked.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/17/us/politics/justice-neil-gorsuch-supreme-court.html?
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