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Notes -
After reading the whole thing, my first reaction is "typical Gorsuch beast mode." As you said, it was a tremendously fun and interesting read, and he is certainly among the more gifted interlocutors in this crop of justices. The careful but not nitpicking argumentation on display here sits alongside Bostock v. Clayton county in my mind.
I agree that it was a little odd for him to go about repudiating every other opinion, but I think it's telling. With zero evidence at all, I would speculate that he is scared of judicial activism under the Trump administration and wants to get some of his logic on the board so it can be cited later. While it's not binding on its own, I think his choice to rhetorically bludgeon Clarence Thomas was tactful and sets the tone for his brand of textualism to persist. Keeping it to himself would fail to promote his specific reasoning. I'm just glad the Obviously Correct result won out, thanks MQD.
Gorsuch’s opinion will be taught in law schools as setting out the doctrinal elements of MQD. It is a tour de force.
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