Amid leaks, Justice Gorsuch says US Supreme Court needs room for 'candid conversations' [View all]

Source: Reuters

May 3, 2026 12:18 PM EDT Updated 1 hour ago


May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch expressed unease on Sunday concerning the continuing leaks of internal deliberations at the ​nation's highest judicial body, citing the need for the nine justices to be able to engage in "candid ‌conversations."

Gorsuch, a member of the court's 6-3 conservative majority, made his comments in the aftermath of publication by the New York Times last month of leaked memos related to a Supreme Court action in 2016 blocking Democratic President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan. It was the latest in ​a number of leaks involving the court in recent years.

"We want some transparency, but we also have to ​leave room for candid conversations and deliberations with one another," Gorsuch, appointed to the court in ⁠2017 by Republican President Donald Trump, said on the "Fox News Sunday" program. Gorsuch pointed to the availability of live audio of ​the court's oral arguments as an example of transparency. "But do we need time to actually talk quietly with one another, to ​find those places where we can reach agreement? Yeah, we do," Gorsuch said.

The court has dramatically increased the use of its so-called emergency docket - also called the "shadow" docket - handing Trump repeated wins since he returned to office last year that allowed him to pursue aggressive and sometimes novel ​uses of executive authority while challenges played out in lower courts. This emergency docket power was the subject of the ​leaked memos published in the New York Times.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/amid-leaks-justice-gorsuch-says-us-supreme-court-needs-room-candid-conversations-2026-05-03/