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44 Pace L. Rev. 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/pace44 and id is 1 raw text is: THE CURIOUS CASE OF JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH Justin Burnworth* Abstract Justice Gorsuch has a propensity for unexpected decisions. His opinions in Bostock v. Clayton County, United States v. Vaello Madero, and McGirt v. Oklahoma confounded the legal community at large. Some argue that his Western upbringing played a role. Others argue that his time clerking for Justice Kennedy primed him for unpredictable decisions. These explanations do notget at the core oflustice Gorsuch's legal reasoning. This article dives into the depths of these opinions to extract his Enduring theories of law. I argue that legal scholarship has incorrectly viewed these three decisions as isolated incidents when they are best understood as a collective effort by Justice Gorsuch. By extracting the themes and rulesfrom these opinions, I maintain that he is the most likely conservative Justice on Supreme Court to rule in favor of marginalized people. Further, his steadfast following of his own the- ories of law will undoubtedly lead to more decisions like the ones dis- cussed here. Justice Gorsuch's predisposition for astonishing legal ex- perts will continue to happen until they properly put his past decisions into perspective and understand them as a unified group. Blindly ignor- ing the recognizable pattern will only hinder efforts to make significant legal change, especially for the groups Justice Gorsuch has previously sided with. I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 2 II. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS ON JUSTICE GORSUCH'S VOTING BEHAVIOR........... 5 A . Justice Ideology Scores................................................................... . 5 B. Analyzing Conservative Justices' Votes..................................... 7 III. EXPLANATIONS FOR JUSTICE GORSUCH'S UNANTICIPATED DECISIONS ......10 A. Clerking for Justice Anthony Kennedy .........................................10 B. How the West Shaped Justice Gorsuch.........................................12 IV. BOSTOCK, VAELLO MADERO, AND MCGIRT ......................................................14 A. Justice Gorsuch Shocks the Legal Community..........................14 B. The Insular Cases Must Be Overturned........................................26 C. Congress Must Keep Its Word..........................................................33 V. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................46 1 * J.D., PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

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