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Neil Gorsuch Failed to Disclose Conflict of Interest in Property Sale After Confirmation to SCOTUS

HeadlineApr 26, 2023

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sold a property he co-owned to the head of a major law firm that has since had 22 cases before the Supreme Court. The sale to Greenberg Traurig CEO Brian Duffy came just nine days after the Trump-appointed Gorsuch was confirmed by the Senate in 2017. Previously, the property in rural Colorado had languished on the market for two years. Gorsuch reported the sale but left the box for the identity of the buyer on disclosure forms blank. The news, first reported by Politico Tuesday, comes in the wake of explosive revelations about fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and his ties to GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, who lavished Thomas with luxury gifts for two decades and bought property from the Thomas family, which was never disclosed.

Democrats are calling for investigations into both justices and for lawmakers to pass the Supreme Court ethics bill, which was reintroduced earlier this year. On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts turned down a request from Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin to testify at an ethics hearing next week, offering instead a signed statement by the justices reaffirming a commitment to “foundational ethics principles.” Durbin deemed the statement inadequate and said, “It is time for Congress to accept its responsibility to establish an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court, the only agency of our government without it.”

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