Staples, Inc.

In “Democracy in America,” political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “there is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.” Nearly 200 years later, this statement rings true — maybe now, more than ever.   

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee considered the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court. Since vacancies on the bench are rare and the political stakes so high, few spectacles in Washington D.C. invite this level of drama. He was confirmed by the committee but when his nomination eventually goes to the floor of the Senate for a vote, the real fun will begin. (See “nuclear option.”) Lost in the hype is what his eventual seat on the court will mean to retail operators.