Long before Neil Gorsuch was a Supreme Court justice casting pivotal votes in society-quaking decisions on everything from voting rights to affirmative action to abortion, he was that friendly “debate me” dweeb everyone tried to avoid in the college dorm. You know that guy? The one who seemed to lurk in the common area, waiting for anyone to come along so he could make a right-wing argument based on his own highly technical notion of what the rules are, no matter how ridiculous the result?
Gorsuch would engage on any topic, but his favorite was abortion. According to his college freshman floormate Liz Pleshette, he was the guy who would argue that a pregnant 12-year-old who had been raped needed to carry the pregnancy to term, without any consideration for the reality of the situation, because “abortion is murder, Liz.” There’s a certain kind of guy who loves to debate abortion with liberal women, and Gorsuch fit the mold perfectly. When I spoke to her, Pleshette remembered that she would get upset from these interactions but he wouldn’t. “Even if he was vehemently arguing with you, it was laced with such civility and tight manners and politeness that you could be fooled into thinking that this is someone who is coming to the venture with loads of respect,” Pleshette told me.
