Be Persistent, Work Hard and Be Fair says Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch

The shutdown and altering of how public school is being taught has caused a lot of differing ways teachers have had to educate our young people.  Many teachers used a nationwide Zoom broadcast by United States Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch when teaching the U.S. Constitution.

Among many words of wisdom provided by the Honorable Gorsuch; he explained that “First, learn about it.  This is going to be in your hands to preserve, protect, and defend.”  Unfortunately, 60% of people fail the citizenship test and only about a third can identify three branches of government.  As a matter of fact, when Judge Judy is more well-known than most of our Supreme Court Judges who are charged with interpreting the constitution.

There were over 1300 registered participants in the K-12 town hall, and probably a bit more since some entire classes were counted as one registrant.  Gorsuch explained that “It’s been hard not to see my colleagues” for the justices’ weekly conferences, but “I don’t have anything to complain about even though I do miss that in-person dialogue.”  When a question he was asked about the popular musical “Hamilton” which was aired on Disney Plus over the summer, he stated, “"It is fantastic, but my only complaint is that James Madison doesn't come across very well," Gorsuch said. The justice has portraits of Madison and the first Justice John Marshall Harlan in his chambers, he said. Harlan was the sole dissenter to the court's 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that upheld "separate but equal" facilities for Black Americans.  Harlan "stood up for enforcing the original meaning of the 14th Amendment," Gorsuch said, a view that eventually prevailed in the court's 1954 school desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

Gorsuch told the audience he really liked science when he was growing up “because we got to blow things up.”  He also enjoyed playing dodgeball in physical education class, but his true favorite subjects were history and literature.  He shared with the class about his admiration for Justice Byron R. White who he had clerked for.  White had instilled a sense of humility by walking around the court’s hallways which were filled with portraits of past justices and stated that most were now a distant memory forgotten to history.

In closing, Justice Gorsuch asked the kids to remember the virtues their grandmother, mother and teachers taught to them.  “I just say to young folks, be persistent, work hard, be fair.”  He thanked all of the teachers of America who watched the seminar and who are helping all of the children through this difficult time.