For most of our lifetimes, we’ve been inculcated to perceive the Supreme Court as above the dirty, conniving, unprincipled dynamics of day-to-day politics. In this fairy-tale version of America, politicians are the nasty ideological street brawlers, while the justices are high-minded, apolitical referees who attempt to apply empiricism and ideals to the messy fights of the other governmental branches.

And the justices are desperate to preserve this image of themselves as upstanding West Wing characters — indeed, Justice Amy Coney Barrett gave a speech a few years ago in which she declared, “My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks.”

But we can thank Justice Neil Gorsuch for this week disabusing anyone of these fantasies. His decisions and statements over the last nineteen months remind us that the justices are just as calculated, hypocritical, and, yes, political as every other player in the political arena.