Justice Neil Gorsuch Interview on The Declaration of Independence [5:01-10:00]

And maybe Steve Breyer as well. Maybe 20 books. Who's written more than all of us combined. And most of them are telling me why originalism is the wrong way to interpret the Constitution. I love Steve Breyer. And of course Ruth. Ruth was very prolific as well. So why? You know, that's a good question. But I look back through history. I had one of my law clerks pull it up. And the number of books written by Supreme Court Justices is longer than you are. All right. These are interesting people who have things to say. And I love reading my colleagues' books. I learn from them. I learn a great deal from them. And well, I hope mine's a small contribution too. Have you ever read Oliver Wendell Holmes? I've read the common law. I read that in law school. That was required reading, absolutely. I can't say I've read all of his father's poetry for which he was just the famous. But I've read a little bit. Well, you're an author, you're a Supreme Court justice. Are you anonymous? Are you a celebrity in any way? I live a very ordinary life in a lot of ways. There's more security around it now than there was. But I ride my bike to work. I go fishing and skiing. And the things I love to do, I do. And I live my life. Well, you spent early life in Denver out west. You consider yourself a Westerner. Very much so, absolutely. I spent as much time there as I possibly can. And certainly my family doesn't think I'm anything special. Did your mother's service as EPA administrator during the Reagan administration impact you her being in the spotlight? Did it influence your view of the world? I was a 13-year-old kid going to school. I was more interested in whether I was going to make a team or a debate squad or a school play. I was living like any typical teenage boy. I was pretty much in my own world. I'm sad to confess. Back to Heroes of 1776, something I learned. The printer of the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776. It was a woman. Very Catherine Goddard. Yes. Had no idea. Now, you stole a punch line of that, right? Which is kind of, it's interesting, right? That why, first of all, why was it printed in Baltimore? Do you know the answer to that? Well, Congress was on the run. You have to remember how dangerous this was in 1776. The Brits were coming in on Philadelphia. And so Congress retreated to Baltimore. And it needed to get out word desperately that the Declaration had been made. It was a rallying cry for independence. And you have to remember, things were dicey then. Only about 40 percent would identify themselves as patriots. There were loyalists. There were people who wanted to stay out of it. They needed to get the news out. And so they went to local printer who would always publish printed by MK Goddard at the bottom of the newspaper. And why MK? For probably pretty obvious reasons. It didn't want to disclose that it was a woman. But when it came to the Declaration, she printed her whole name. Printed by Mary K. Goddard in Baltimore, Maryland. And I just think that's a remarkable act of courage on her part, too. Second thing I learned, that a vote for independence, the British considered that a vote, a treasonous vote. Oh, absolutely. No, they were marking them. We think it was inevitable. Freedom inevitable. The Declaration and the Revolution inevitable. None of it was. It was all very contingent. That's why we wanted to focus on the people. The ordinary people just extraordinary things to sacrifice to make it possible. And you're absolutely right. It was not inevitable. When they said that they were pledging their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor, they really meant it. A third of them had their home burned. All right. Most of them lost their fortunes either through losing their land and their homes or by spending it to support the revolutionary cause. You know, Thomas Stockton was amazed that the army didn't have shoes. So he gave money for shoes, things like that. And then he had his home bird as well. Some of them, five of them were imprisoned, captured and imprisoned. Others, their wives, were captured in prison to Elizabeth Lewis, died shortly after being released from her imprisonment. Many had sons who were captured, one lost in the war as well. So the suffering was very, very profound and real. The Revolution didn't just happen over, it lasted eight years. We forget that too.