Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch set off a social media storm on Tuesday after he appeared on “Fox and Friends” and wished host Ainsley Earhardt a “Merry Christmas” in an interview promoting his book.
Many critics on the left suggested that the justice was signaling his sympathies with people disturbed at the secularization of American public life by saying “Merry Christmas” instead of its capacious alternative “Happy Holidays.”
North Carolina Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis, circulated a digital Christmas card for Gorsuch as criticism mounted, and accused the Dems of an unfair smear.
Other commentators on the left also suggested that the program was an inappropriate venue for a Supreme Court justice.
“Fox and Friends” is said to be a staple of President Trump’s media diet, and generally keeps a pro-Trump editorial line.
Gorsuch has given numerous interviews to promote his book “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” which appeared in September. The book is a collection of judicial writings, essays, and autobiographical details, as the Daily Caller reported.
The U.S. Judicial Code provides that judges must avoid all appearances of impropriety, and should “expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny and accept freely and willingly restrictions that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen.”
Tis code, however, does not formally bind Supreme Court justices.
