Neil Gorsuch is on a book tour, and his itinerary reads less like a publicity schedule than a pilgrimage route through the modern right-wing media ecosystem. The conservative Supreme Court justice’s rollout for his new children’s book, “Heroes of 1776: The Story of the Declaration,” includes “Fox & Friends,” Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Megyn Kelly’s podcast, National Review and stops at the presidential libraries of Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.
But Gorsuch’s interviews have not been confined to “the stories of ordinary people willing to do extraordinary things,” as the book jacket reads. Throughout the tour, he has repeatedly insisted the Supreme Court is not a partisan institution. So there is something almost darkly ironic about watching Gorsuch embark on one of the friendliest media tours imaginable — one carefully routed through the movement that elevated him and celebrated his confirmation to the Supreme Court as one of the signal achievements of the modern conservative project — only to discover that even this is no longer enough for today’s right.
