Roberts declines Senate request to testify on court ethics
While Chief Justice John Roberts declined a Senate Judiciary request to testify on court ethical standards, he did provide a statement.
LEARN MOREPosted: 12:56 p.m. EDT Apr 26, 2023
There is another ethical thorn in the side of the Supreme Court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch sold a 3,000-square-foot Denver home to the CEO of a major law firm that has had business before the High Court, Politico first reported.
Gorsuch had been looking for a buyer for nearly two years, and he was able to find one just nine days after his confirmation in 2017. He and his wife closed on the house for $1.825 million on May 12, 2017, with Brian Duffy, the chief executive officer of the prominent law firm Greenberg Traurig, according to the report.
While he reported an income of $250,001 to $500,000 from the sale in federal disclosure forms, Gorsuch opted to leave the space for disclosing the buyer's identity blank, Politico reports.
The omission of the purchaser's name holds importance as the legal firm's cases frequently end up before the Supreme Court.
According to Politico, Greenberg Traurig has had "at least 22 cases before or presented" to the court, and there were 12 cases where Gorsuch's stance was documented, stating that he sided with the law firm’s clients eight times and was against them on four of those cases.
This incident comes as Chief Justice John Roberts declined a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify next week on the ethical standards of the court after reports surfaced detailing a close relationship between Justice Clarence Thomas and a conservative donor from Texas, Harlan Crow.
Scripps News has reached out to the Supreme Court for comment but hasn't yet received a response.
