Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, right, hugs his wife Louise on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court after his Investiture ceremony, on June 15, 2017. Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and his wife, Louise, after his investiture ceremony on June 15, 2017. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

President Donald Trump's White House may be leakier than many of his predecessors', but its best-kept secrets have involved who is nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court and how they got there. In his new book, "A Republic, If You Can Keep It," Justice Neil Gorsuch takes readers behind the scenes of his own selection and confirmation.

Gorsuch retraces his steps from Colorado to the Lincoln Bedroom as he prepared to introduce himself to the country—including how he evaded the news media's watchful gaze. In an interview on his 52nd birthday, he told The National Law Journal that this was a book born of his experience in the U.S. Senate confirmation process.

He wouldn't have written the book if he had not been nominated to the Supreme Court, he said, but he still would have written it if his nomination had failed.

"I talk about the challenges we have on civics and civility in the book, but I don't want anyone to leave thinking I'm not optimistic about the future," Gorsuch said. "The picture on the cover should tell you something. It's a barn near my old house in Colorado with Longs Peak in the background. I'm optimistic."

Gorsuch's disappointment that many Americans view judges as politicians is central to his book, but he doesn't want readers to take his concerns about civic understanding as despair. And he emphasized that he's grateful for the opportunity he was granted.

Book cover: A Republic, If you can keep it, by Neil Gorsuch. (Courtesy photo: Crown Forum, publisher)

"I lost my anonymity in the confirmation process. I didn't know how valuable anonymity was until I lost it," he said. "Everywhere I went at that time, people would stop me and I felt a real loss. But when you lose something, I've found God often gives you something in return if you just look hard enough for it. And what I got in return was the opportunity to witness how much the American people love their country and want their government, their courts, to succeed."

Despite all eyes trained on his nomination, Gorsuch recounts in the book how he thinks public perception of the bruising confirmation fight differed from reality, writing, "Outside observers would sometimes say, boy, it's going smoothly. If they only knew!" He writes that most anyone who had come into contact with him was affected by his nomination, from former colleagues in private practice to his grade school teachers.

The frustration he details in the book mirrors a moment in the U.S. Senate hearings on his nomination, when he said, "I regret putting my family through this." Asked about that regret and frustration, Gorsuch sounded a tad homesick.

"I am honored and I am humbled to serve the American people in this capacity," Gorsuch said. "If you're asking me, do I miss the Colorado mountains? Today's my birthday, I miss the Colorado mountains. I'd rather be in a trout stream right now. But I'm honored to be able to serve and humbled that I was chosen to do it."

In his book, Gorsuch writes that his colleagues on the federal bench have picked up on moments when he could use some Mountain West hospitality. During Senate hearings on his nomination, when some of his peers saw him on television and thought he needed more meat on his bones, Gorsuch wrote, he received a food basket "with love from your Obama-appointed colleagues" on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Much of Gorsuch's book involves his work on the federal court of appeals, including selected opinions from his days as a federal appellate court judge that illustrate what he terms "the judge's tools" and "the art of judging." He makes the case for his preferred methods of statutory and constitutional interpretation, originalism and textualism, citing concurrences and dissents where he wrote separately from his colleagues, as well as through several newly published remarks and speeches.

Gorsuch writes that the book is not intended for academics, however, and explicitly states that his intended audience is "citizens interested in introductory and personal reflections on our Constitution, its separation of powers, and some of the challenges we face in preserving and protecting our republic today." The book hits stores on Tuesday.

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