Supreme Court’s Gorsuch Blasts ‘Breathtaking’ Pandemic Decrees

May 18, 2023, 9:28 PM UTC

US Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch blasted the “breathtaking scale” of emergency decrees issued by state and federal officials during the pandemic, calling them a historic threat to freedom.

In an eight-page statement that accompanied a routine order, Gorsuch decried lockdowns, school and church closures and vaccine requirements, casting them as fear-induced overreactions that could drive a slide toward autocracy.

“Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country,” he wrote.

Gorsuch issued the statement as the court dropped a showdown over pandemic-era border restrictions after President Joe ...

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