I was on vacation recently when a friend introduced me to her old college roommate. She asked me where I lived and I politely replied, “Boulder, Colorado.”
Then the strangest thing happened. She looked at me and said, “Oh yes. That’s where our future Supreme Court justice comes from.”
Just like that, I realized that 50 years of progressive politics and far-left forays into national and international politics — think sister and sanctuary cities in the last few months alone — and, boom, Boulder’s top billing becomes “the town that helped keep the U.S. Supreme Court conservative.”
When people said, “This election will have consequences,” I sure didn’t see that one coming.
Those of us who have been here long enough will remember that Boulder wasn’t always a liberal bastion and, in many ways, welcomed people of all political persuasions. When I moved here in 1981, Boulder was just coming out of a long period where local government was dominated by Republicans as well as being the home of Soldier of Fortune magazine. It’s been a while since Boulder’s tolerance for conservative thought faded and I guess that’s just fine. Boulder keeps getting better and if embracing the cloak of “The People’s Republic” is part of the magic stew that makes Boulder what it is, OK. Whatever works.
But, the irony of being the home of the Trump administration’s first pick for the Supremes is almost too much to bear. Boulder is supposed to be the Resistance, not the think tank.
To add to our woes, our neighbor Judge Gorsuch may not be all that bad, even through a Boulder lens. In normal times — whatever those are — Boulder citizens might even be proud that this liberal town that is often the target of Fox News rage is sooooo open-minded that President Trump had to come to us to find a jurist sufficiently qualified to demonstrate his heretofore well-hidden wisdom.
Much to my surprise, I’m seeing signs that many of us are starting to feel that pride. Sure, lots of us are coughing up hairballs at the very thought of Boulder’s new image as a place where future conservative Supreme Court justices come to mature. That hurts.
But, we also seem to be having a hard time disliking Judge Gorsuch, both in terms of style and substance. His judicial philosophies are built largely around two ideas many of us naturally lean towards — judicial restraint and strong local government.
While recent decades have seen liberals on the receiving end of judicial activism, like legalizing gay marriage, it’s hard for us independent westerners to get all enthused about guys in long robes making up laws on their own. Today, judicial activism should sound even less tempting to liberals since our nation’s Supreme Court is on the verge of leaning further rightward than ever. How about going back to where we elect people to make the laws and then ask the courts to rule based upon those laws, not the laws that judges make up in their heads? Judge Gorsuch is the embodiment of this judicial philosophy.
And, since Boulder has made a hobby out of thumbing our noses at our federal and state governments — think sanctuary cities and fracking moratoriums — Boulderites gotta love Judge Gorsuch’s predilection towards delegating decision-making to local governments whenever the law permits. We live here and we’re pretty thoughtful about what we need, so let us decide what’s good for us.
My personal favorite, though, is that Judge Gorsuch likes to inject humor into his judicial opinions. Sure, Supreme Court justicing is serious business, but I’ve always appreciated a sense of humor in those passing judgment. They are simply following the Mary Poppins principle that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down and America could use a lot more spoonfuls of sugar right now.
While the idea that Boulder might just tolerate, if not like, Judge Gorsuch crossed my mind, I didn’t really believe it possible until I read the Feb. 4 commentaries on Judge Gorsuch from the Camera’s Editorial Advisory Board. To my astonishment, four of the five contributors fell into either “favorable” or “give the guy a chance” categories. Miracles happen, especially in Boulder.
I suspect that my words might just spawn a few hairballs and get some readers to write this newspaper and clear things up about how Boulder really feels. Still, first impressions matter, and, from what I’ve seen, Judge Gorsuch has made many of his neighbors even more proud to be from Boulder than we already were.
Email: ron@bikeandsail.net
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