Neil Gorsuch preaches tolerance and listens to gripes about Trump at 9th Circuit Judicial Conference

Gorsuch attended the conference Monday in place of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a late scratch because his wife broke her hip in Salzburg, Austria. The newest justice participated in a naturalization ceremony at the conference in San Francisco and delivered remarks touting the virtues of collegiality.

“Democracy depends on our willingness to hear and respect even those we disagree with strongly,” Gorsuch said according to CBS. “In a government by and for the people, we have to remember those with whom we disagree, even vehemently, still have the best interests of the country at heart.”

Earlier in the day, Gorsuch was seated next to a 15-year-old Alaska high school student as she read an essay on the topic of Japanese internment in the U.S. and reportedly cited Trump’s travel ban as what she viewed as ethnic profiling. She later told CBS she thought it was “awkward” and a “little weird” to give her views on the ban next to Gorsuch, who is expected to hear the travel ban litigation next term.

Gorsuch also reportedly sat in the audience at the conference while “Hamilton” musical producer Jeffrey Seller explained why the cast of the hit musical decided to confront Vice President Mike Pence from the stage after the 2016 elections. Seller reportedly said he thought Trump appeared hostile to Mexicans during the 2016 presidential campaign.

At the end of its most recent term, the Supreme Court agreed to hear litigation over the travel ban after the next term begins in October. Gorsuch — like Justice Samuel Alito — joined a dissent from the high court’s grant of the case authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, which said the blockades of Trump’s travel ban should be completely lifted as the litigation heads toward the high court.

Whether the Supreme Court will ever hear oral arguments and formally rule on the travel ban remains a matter of debate among legal experts.