April 25, 2023 03:34 PM UTC

Grift For The Goose, Good For The Gorsuch?

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• by: Colorado Pols

WEDNESDAY UPDATE:

Chief Justice John Roberts has refused a request to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, leaving Democrats struggling for their next move over demands for a code of conduct for the Supreme Court. | w @Zachary_Cohen https://t.co/l4NSua8GUg

— Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) April 25, 2023

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The scandal over lavish “personal largesse” from a billionaire Republican donor to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that broke earlier this month has prompted calls for Thomas’ impeachment, resignation, or at the very least revised ethical standards to make the same disclosure requirements that apply to the other two branches of government also apply at the highest court in the land.

But as Politico reported today, Thomas isn’t the only Supreme Court Justice facing ethics questions. Next up for scrutiny is Colorado’s conservative native son and Justice Neil Gorsuch:

For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colo.

Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals…

Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms.

Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank. [Pols emphasis]

With literally dozens of cases that have been before the Supreme Court during Gorsuch’s time in office that leading political lobbyist/law firm Greenberg Traurig of Jack Abramoff infamy has been involved with in one way or another, the failure to disclose the source of this large profit is a big problem. Unlike Justice Thomas’ “close friend” Harlan Crow, the CEO of Greenberg Traurig claims no special friendship with Gorsuch of the kind that Thomas thinks excuses his lack of disclosure of thousands of dollars’ worth of travel and luxury accommodations over the course of years.

Greenberg Traurig CEO Brian Duffy claims he didn’t know the property was co-owned by Gorsuch when he first saw it, and discovered after the property was on the market unsold for over two years in Colorado’s red-hot real estate market that it was “perfect” for his family as a vacation home. This discovery came nine days after Gorsuch was appointed to the Supreme Court where Duffy’s firm has lots of pending business.

Sen. Dick Durbin seems to agree that’s an awful lot of coincidences:

“We have seen a steady stream of revelations regarding Supreme Court Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and of public servants,” said Durbin. “The need for Supreme Court ethics reform is clear, and if the Court does not take adequate action, Congress must. The Senate Judiciary Committee will be closely examining these matters in the coming weeks,” said Durbin, who has asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month on the court’s ethics rules.

Justice Clarence Thomas’ undisclosed globetrotting at a billionaire’s expense has ripped the scab off of serious ethics problems at the nation’s highest court that were not previously understood due to the lack of required disclosure. But where the disclosures begin is often not where they end. The high degree of trust vested in a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court should be accompanied by the nation’s most stringent ethical and financial disclosure standards, not lower standards than what is expected of lower-ranking federal judges.

Neil Gorsuch’s legacy may also be tainted as the country learns this lesson the hard way.