Everything You Need To Know About Neil Gorsuch (Including Roe v. Wade)
Libertarian legal giant Randy Barnett says Trump's first Supreme Court nominee is a serious, smart guy. But will he restrain government?
Georgetown Law's Randy Barnett sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to weigh in on Trump's nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme court.
Barnett said he was cautiously optimistic about Gorsuch. "Of all the people on [Trump's] list, he was certainly near the top," Barnett said. Gorsuch, he says, is well-read, smart, and a staunch defender of originalism like Justice Scalia.
"There's the old 'framers intent,' which people say if they don't know what they're talking about," Barnett said. "Gorusch says 'original public meaning,' which means he knows what he's talking about" when it comes constrained interpretation of laws.
Barnett said he believes the addition of Gorsuch to the Supreme Court could have a significant impact on whether or not a reinterpretation of abortion rights is in the future. "Roe v. Wade is not settled," Barnett said. "Could [a decision] happen? I think it could…in the sense that it's been contested since it was decided. As a result I can seem them undoing it and sending [the issue of abortion] back to the states."
Barnett's latest book is Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People. Go here for video and text of our interview with him about that.
Edited by Mark McDaniel. Cameras by Josh Swain and McDaniel. Music by Simon Mathewson.