Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch questions overcriminalization during book tour at presidential libraries

(CNN) — Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch criticized the expansion of federal criminal law during remarks on Friday, telling an audience in California that Americans’ liberties are at risk “when there’s a law against everything.”

“What happens to your respect for law when everybody’s a criminal?” Gorsuch said during remarks at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

“I am not looking to roll back to 1789,” the conservative said. “I’m just asking for maybe a dose of common sense along the way.”

Gorsuch, former President Donald Trump’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, who at times has demonstrated a streak of libertarianism, is on a publicity tour for a book he published Tuesday. “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law” focuses on the expansion of federal regulations and what he describes as a convoluted series of federal crimes that no one can fully follow.

Gorsuch spoke at the library in Yorba Linda, California, on the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s resignation. The justice did not mention the historic event.

Both in the book and during his remarks, Gorsuch tells the story of John Yates, a fisherman who was caught with undersized red grouper. Yates ordered the offending fish to be tossed overboard before authorities could confirm he had violated federal fishing regulations, according to court records.

Yates was convicted of violating a provision of a federal law prohibiting people from altering or destroying “any record, document, or tangible object” with the intent to obstruct an investigation. Prosecutors argued the fish fell within the definition of “tangible object.”

A different section of the same law was at issue in a major case before the Supreme Court this year, involving people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Prosecutors sought to charge members of the mob with attempting to disrupt an official proceeding.

A 6-3 majority limited the circumstances under which prosecutors could bring that charge.

Gorsuch joined the majority in that opinion.

“What do we do about this?” Gorsuch asked on Friday, referring to what he sees as the broader problem of overcriminalization. “Nine old people in Washington can’t do this. I really think it has to come from you.”

That was a theme Gorsuch struck during remarks a day earlier at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Gorsuch blamed the proliferation of federal regulations in part on what he described as a lack of trust and civility among Americans.

“More and more Americans think that people in the other political party are not just wrong … they’re evil,” Gorsuch said late Thursday. “We have to be able to talk to one another. We have to be able to lose, too, as well as win.”

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