WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch was on a roll, seeming to thoroughly enjoy himself as he commanded the stage at the annual black-tie dinner gala hosted by the Federalist Society in Washington, D.C. The Nov. 14 dinner came midway through the organization’s three-day National Lawyers Convention, a gathering of nearly 2,000 conservative and libertarian judges, academics, lawyers, and law students. In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump and the Republicans’ tripartite sweep of the White House and Congress, it was a time not only for celebration, but to preen.

The Federalist Society, the conservative lawyers network, likes to maintain a public veneer of open debate, and retired liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was seated beside Gorsuch on the stage. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett looked on from the audience.

Gorsuch used the opportunity to launch into an unexpected riff about the late MAGA internet icon Peanut the squirrel and the porn-heavy subscription website, OnlyFans, where Peanut’s dad is a model.

“You might have seen [a story] in the newspaper, if the newspapers are to be believed, yes, I’m speaking of Peanut the squirrel,” Gorsuch said. Referencing OnlyFans — or “Just for Fans,” as he put it — Gorsuch added with a grin: “My law clerks tell me that there’s maybe a sordid side.… I don’t know the details. I’m not aware of any allegation that Peanut was involved in any of those actions.”

The audience needed little help picking up on the jokes, which had previously been largely confined to right-wing media outlets and conservative corners of the internet, responding with applause, hoots, and knowing laughter. Dressed in gowns, tuxedos, and related finery, they seemed a bit at odds with their surroundings in a large ballroom in the windowless bowels of the Hilton Hotel, known colloquially as the “Hinckley Hilton” ever since John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan there.

I was seated with a handful of reporters who were shuttled in nearly two hours after the event began (well after dinner was served) and confined to a short row of chairs lining a back wall.

My first encounter with Peanut the squirrel had come just two days before the election, when I posted a photo on X that I took at the Women’s March in D.C. of an 86-year-old woman holding a sign sharing her excitement about voting for Vice President Kamala Harris. The photo was unfortunately viewed nearly 2 million times. Among a torrent of misogynist, violent, and otherwise hateful responses from Trump supporters was a video with the heading “This is for you Peanut.” It was an animated army of muscle-bound squirrels in gladiator gear and “Pets 4 Trump” hats marching in military formation down Pennsylvania Avenue headed to the White House. “Bull Dog” who shared the video, wrote, “Nothing is going to stop what’s coming.”

I suppose he was right.

I came to learn that Peanut was a pet squirrel taken from the home of a couple in New York and euthanized by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation due to concern that he could have rabies. (He did not.) Trump’s campaign posted on TikTok: “Vote Trump for Peanut.” His account wrote that Peanut was “needlessly murdered by Democrat bureaucrats in New York,” adding, “We will avenge you on Tuesday at the ballot box.”

Trump appointed Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett to the Supreme Court, helping conservatives build a 6-3 supermajority. His judicial adviser during that time was Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo, whose dark-money network spent tens of millions to boost their confirmations.

Mirroring Trump, Gorsuch used Peanut as an example of abusive government overreach. Gorsuch’s second example was what he characterized as a ridiculous effort by government regulators to require that businesses across the country include climate-disaster plans in their operations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that resulted in the highest financial costs and one of the deadliest tolls of any hurricane in U.S. history. The city of New Orleans has yet to fully recover.

Gorsuch’s speech outlined what those in attendance firmly plan to deliver upon: the death of the “administrative state.” It’s a bit ironic, as the administrative state — the public-facing rules and actions taken by federal agencies to regulate on behalf of the public interest — is the antithesis to the right-wing conspiracy theory of the “deep state.”

Gorsuch assured attendees that his interest in regulatory reform is not about protecting “big business” or “corporate welfarism,” but rather out of concern that “ordinary Americans have just been swallowed up by the law.” That may have been the biggest joke of the evening.

The Federalist Society is heavily underwritten by some of the nation’s largest corporations and business lobbies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Koch Industries, and the United States Chamber of Commerce. These interests are also among the most vociferous opponents of government regulations. Such regulations force companies to do things like curtail the amount of pollution they emit from chemical plants and oil refineries, ensure equity for their employees, and test drugs before selling them to the public.

As former Justice Breyer explained in his remarks, government regulations have not only helped save whales from near extinction (to the joy of his daughter), but also countless human lives. “There are quite a few people who are alive today, and who recovered from pretty serious illnesses, because we had a system of putting new drugs on the market,” he said. He stressed that the people who work in government agencies are experts in their fields who can be trusted to make decisions in the public interest with knowledge that generally surpasses that of people like himself (a.k.a. judges). Gorsuch thanked Breyer and then led the audience in a toast to Peanut, before sending everyone off to the open bar.

The Federalist Society convention laid bare, in great detail, the deregulatory, legislative, and judicial priorities of members and supporters of what may be one of the most influential organizations in the nation. Gorsuch was among many speakers who noted how many of those in attendance were already involved in the Trump transition, on their way to joining the new administration, or advising it.

Speakers included Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri; former Trump Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler; appellate lawyer Paul Clement; and O.H. Skinner of the Leo network group, Alliance for Consumers. Among the topics of conversation were plans to curtail implementation of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, stymy climate litigation, shut down campus protest movements, and put a halt to environmental, health, and climate protections.

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