While hearing a California-based case fascinating on its own merits, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch raised a side issue of perhaps even greater importance, one which rightly unites reformers from across the political spectrum.
The case was about when police in “pursuit” of a suspect can be allowed to enter the suspect’s property without a search warrant. It’s an issue involving many layers of law and logic, one worthy of close attention.
Also well worthy of attention, though, is the side issue raised by Gorsuch. It is a favorite topic of his, one which reporters and analysts have associated with him for years. It also is one to which we at the Washington Examiner have returned repeatedly while advocating some of the same sorts of reforms Gorsuch seems to suggest are necessary.
The issue, the problem, is called “overcriminalization.”
“We live in a world in which everything has been criminalized,” Gorsuch said during the Wednesday oral arguments in the case called Lange v. California. “And some professors have even opined that there’s not an American alive who hasn’t committed a felony in some — under some state law.”