In Praise of Geographic Diversity on the Supreme Court

Much ink will be spilled in the coming days, I am sure, on President Trump’s nomination of Tenth Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.  Here I want to weigh in on one oft-neglected but important part of Judge Gorsuch's resume: the geographic diversity he would bring to the Court.  Gorsuch is a Colorado native, and his address last night repeatedly invoked those western roots.  By contrast, most of the current Justices hail from within the so-called Acela Corridor, stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C. 

It was not always this way.  Twenty-five years ago, the nine members of the Court had spent their formative years in locales all across the country: California (Kennedy), Arizona (O’Connor), Colorado (White), Illinois (Stevens), Wisconsin (Rehnquist), Minnesota (Blackmun), Massachusetts/New Hampshire (Souter), New York (Scalia), and Georgia (Thomas).  The distribution was a bit heavy on the Great Lakes states, perhaps, and a bit light on the south-central part of the country, but widely representative nonetheless.

There are several reasons to believe that geographic diversity on the Court makes a positive difference.  More after the jump.

First, geographic diversity can raise the Court’s legitimacy with the public by increasing regional buy-in. The November election made clear that much of the country believes that federal institutions are dominated by coastal elites.  Appointing a Justice from far outside the range of the Delta/American shuttle can strengthen public belief that the Court has a national perspective.  Regional pride plays a role as well: the left-leaning Denver Post strongly endorsed Judge Gorsuch for the Supreme Court opening last week, despite his conservative credentials, noting among other things that “we like his ties to Colorado.” Just as the gender, race, religion, and philosophy of a Supreme Court nominee can drive acceptance among certain segments of the public, so too can geography create the sense that “one of our own is looking out for us.”

Second, Supreme Court appointees from different parts of the country are likely to bring specialized knowledge of certain areas of law.  The Tenth Circuit, for example, encompasses states in which the law concerning water rights, oil and gas, minerals and natural resources, skiing and winter recreation, the management of federal lands, and the state-federal relationship is both prominent and very strongly developed.  Many of these issues are likely to come before the Supreme Court at least sporadically in the coming years.  Assuming no basis for recusal, a Justice with familiarity in these areas would be a welcome addition.  The same would obviously apply for other areas of the country.

Finally, childhood and adolescent experiences—and the location of those experiences—can matter to adult decision-making.  No less than any other cultural influence, childhood geography can instill certain understandings about the world that remain with you as an adult.  As the 2007 Scott v. Harris case notoriously demonstrated, perspectives on what constitutes reckless driving may be influenced by whether one grew up in a community reliant on subways and buses or pickup trucks and rural roads.  Similarly, one’s perspective on issues related to labor, immigration, business and financial regulation, criminal justice, and so on might be affected by whether one grew up in view of factories or farms, skyscrapers or suburban malls.  Or just go ask a westerner about water – water rights, water use, water conservation.  While we would never expect or demand a Justice to vote a certain way based solely on geographic background, the ability to add a different perspective at least increases the chance that the Court will take it into account.

The geographic background of a Supreme Court nominee should not be the primary basis for his or her appointment to the Court, any more than the candidate’s gender, race or religion should be.  But it does carry both symbolic and practical value, and it’s good to see geographic balance coming back into play.