A Republic, If You Can Keep It by Neil Gorsuch

Hello all! We will meet online for a discussion of A Republic, If You Can Keep It by Neil Gorsuch. (Please read all of it, prior to the meeting.)

Per a review, "This book is not meant to be a full scale autobiography, like those of Justices Thomas and Sotomayor, but it does contain some scattered biographical material which affords some insights into Gorsuch's personality and outlook. That is the first plus of the book. But the real contributions lie in the substantive chapters. For example, Gorsuch is a well-known promoter of the originalist and textualism schools of constitutional and statutory interpretation. And this book is just loaded with references to these methods. In fact, chapter 3 on "Judges' Tools" is one of the best discussions of originalism that I have encountered in several decades....I found the textualism discussion even better...Also well done is his discussion of precedent, a subject on which he has written extensively...The practical justifications, as well as the criticisms of stare decisis, are all laid out and examined thoroughly....there are additional topics the Justice touches upon: the separation of powers structure in the Constitution; a critical view of the "living constitution" school of interpretation... the weaknesses in his view of the "administrative state"; Judge Posner's interpretive pragmatism; canons of construction...the dangers in his view of legislative history; and some weaknesses of access to affordable justice, discovery in civil cases, and the dying jury trial....The fact that I disagree with much of the Justice's arguments in no way foreclosed me from learning much from this book."

“Every American should read this book—especially those who think they disagree with Justice Gorsuch. . . . Whether readers end up agreeing or disagreeing with Justice Gorsuch’s ideas, our republic will be richer for readers having considered them.” — U.S. Circuit Judge Amul Thapar

“A Republic, If You Can Keep It is a delightful primer on civics as well as the reflections of a deeply thoughtful judge.” — Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University

You can get the book in paperback or kindle here:
https://a.co/d/3eOLZw2

All are welcome!