CV NEWS FEED // In a book he released on Aug. 6, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch warned of the “toll” on Americans caused by too many new laws.
“Over just the last few decades, laws in this nation have exploded in number; they are increasingly complex; and the punishments they carry are increasingly severe,” a summary of his book states. “Some of these laws come from our elected representatives, but many now come from agency officials largely insulated from democratic accountability?”
The summary adds that “some law is essential to our lives and our freedoms” but that too many laws infringe on the same freedoms and “undermine respect for law itself.”
“And often those who feel the cost most acutely are those without wealth, power, and status,” the summary adds.
Gorsuch recently discussed his book, “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law,” in an interview with Fox News. He agreed with host Shannon Bream that everyday conduct is “over regulated” and “over criminalized.”
“Some professors say that there are now so many federal laws on the books, crimes, that every American over the age of 18 commits one felony a day,” Gorsuch said, according to the Daily Caller.
He estimated that from 1970 to the present the number of actions considered to be federal crimes by the U.S. Code has roughly doubled, which he said is “just the tip of the iceberg because federal agencies have been busy too.“
“As a judge, now for 18 years, I just came to see case after case in which ordinary Americans—just trying to live their lives, not hurt anybody, raise their families—who are just getting whacked by laws unexpectedly,” he added.
Gorsuch said that a solution could be more dependence on teamwork and trust, rather than focusing on the government and laws.
“Not everything needs to be solved by a distant government,” he said in the interview, according to the Daily Caller. Sometimes we should remember what Tocqueville talked about, working with one another. That means listening as well as speaking. That means learning how to lose as well as win,”
He added:
That’s trusting the person with whom you disagree, loves this country every bit as much as you do. My good friend Steve Breyer says ‘if I listen to almost anyone talk for long enough I’m going to find something they say that we can agree on.’ Maybe we should start there.”
