Supreme Court Justice tears into regulations but avoids discussing Trump at annual gathering

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch ripped into government regulations at the conservative Federalist Society on Thursday, even as he avoided discussing an incoming Trump administration that has vowed to unwind the “administrative state.”

“The truth is the most powerful among us benefit from an overwhelming administrative state,” Gorsuch, who was President-elect Donald Trump’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, told the annual gathering of lawyers, judges and academics in Washington, DC.

Riffing on a theme he raised earlier this year in a new book, Gorsuch said there were far too many instances of ordinary Americans getting hammered by government regulations. Gorsuch noted that he had recently learned of one such case that caught his attention.

“Yes, I’m speaking of Peanut the Squirrel,” Gorsuch said, referring to the story of a New York man who took in a squirrel that became a social media sensation and was later euthanized. The room erupted into laugher.

Gorsuch was joined on stage by Justice Stephen Breyer, a liberal who retired from the Supreme Court in 2022. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, both of whom were also nominated by Trump, attended but did not speak.

The two jurists addressed the convention of more than 1,000 lawyers at an uncertain moment for the conservative legal movement, with many establishment figures associated with the Federalist Society unsure of their place in the incoming Trump administration. While much of the society’s membership may ultimately agree with Trump on the outcome of certain legal controversies, it’s not yet clear the two will align on tactics or approach.