Justice Neil Gorsuch secretly sold a 3,000-square-foot lodge in Colorado to the head of a high-powered law firm that has had nearly two dozen cases before the Court since the property closed

Hi,

A new report just dropped about unethical behavior by another Supreme Court justice.

This time it’s Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch caught red-handed. Just days after being sworn in on April 10, 2017, Justice Neil Gorsuch and his co-owners secretly sold a 3,000-square-foot lodge in Colorado to the head of a high-powered law firm that has had nearly two dozen cases before the Court since the property closed.1

This comes after we’ve already learned that John Roberts’ wife is being paid millions by law firms arguing before the Court and that Clarence Thomas has gotten millions in gifts and sweetheart real estate deals from a Republican megadonor.

At every other branch of the U.S. government, a transaction like this would be meticulously reported, strongly discouraged, or completely prohibited. But the Supreme Court has no ethical code of conduct and refuses to adopt one.2

That’s why Demand Progress Action has mobilized more than 200,000 people to press Congress to pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, requiring the nation’s highest court to follow basic rules of disclosure and recusal.

The Supreme Court cannot be trusted to police itself. Will you make a donation to Demand Progress Action and help support our work, including urging Congress to pass a code of ethics for the Supreme Court?

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Justice Gorsuch sold his Colorado mountain getaway to Brian Duffy, a partner at the high-powered law firm Greenberg Traurig. Duffy’s firm has been involved in 12 cases in which Gorsuch recorded an opinion, and in most of them, Gorsuch sided with Greenberg.3

Gorsuch was required by law to report the sale, but he didn’t — despite getting as much as half a million dollars from one of the nation’s most powerful attorneys.

The corruption runs deep at the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas secretly accepted luxury trips from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow for two decades and failed to report a lucrative real estate deal with him.4,5 Big D.C. law firms, many with business before the Court, paid the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts millions of dollars in commissions for her work as legal recruiter.6 The list goes on.

But momentum for reform is building. The American Bar Association says the Supreme Court needs a binding code of ethics, and legislation has been introduced in Congress to do just that.7,8

Will you donate $10 today to help Demand Progress Action urge Congress to pass a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, and push for other key reforms?

With gratitude for all that you do,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress Action

Sources:
1. Politico, "Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property," April 25, 2023.
2. The Washington Post, "Supreme Court justices discussed, but did not agree on, code of conduct," February 9, 2023.
3. Politico, "Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property," April 25, 2023.
4. ProPublica, "Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire," April 7, 2023.
5. ProPublica, "Billionaire Harlan Crow Bought Property From Clarence Thomas. The Justice Didn’t Disclose the Deal." April 13, 2023.
6. The New York Times, "At the Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over a Spouse’s Business Ties," January 31, 2023.
7. American Bar Association, "Supreme Court Justices Should Follow Binding Code of Ethics, ABA House Says," February 27, 2023.
8. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., "Murphy, Johnson Reintroduce Bicameral Bill Requiring SCOTUS to Follow Code of Ethics," February 9, 2023.

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