Gorsuch Reportedly Sold Property To Law Firm Executive After Joining Supreme Court

Topline

Justice Neil Gorsuch sold real estate to the head of a major law firm with business before the Supreme Court days after his confirmation, Politico reported Tuesday, adding to ethics questions facing Justice Clarence Thomas and other members of the high court—though the law firm executive says he’s never spoken to Gorsuch.

Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed in the Supreme Court in 2017.

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Key Facts

A 40-acre property in Colorado owned by Gorsuch and two other individuals was put under contract for sale on April 16, 2017, six days after Gorsuch began serving as a Supreme Court justice, Politico reported, citing real estate records.

The sale closed a month later, and the buyer was reportedly Brian Duffy, who has served as CEO of the Miami-based law firm giant Greenberg Traurig since 2016.

Duffy and his wife paid $1.83 million for the property—a 3,000-square-foot house along the Colorado River in Granby—and Gorsuch reported on a disclosure form he made between $250,000 and $500,000 from the sale because he held a 20% stake in the property.

The space where Gorsuch would have disclosed the purchaser’s identity was left blank.

During Gorsuch’s time on the Supreme Court, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before the court, including cases in which it filed amicus briefs, and Gorsuch has sided with the law firm in eight out of 12 cases where his opinion was recorded, according to Politico.

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Duffy told Politico he’s never met Gorsuch or argued a case in front of him. He added he did not know Gorsuch was one of the owners when he made his offer on the property, and he cleared the sale with his company’s ethics department after finding out the justice was one of the sellers. Forbes reached out to the Supreme Court and Brian Duffy for comment.

Key Background

News of Gorsuch’s sale comes as Justice Clarence Thomas faces scrutiny for accepting undisclosed gifts from real estate developer Harlan Crow, including luxury vacations. ProPublica uncovered the gifts earlier this month, and also discovered Thomas sold a house in Georgia to Crow and did not disclose the sale, despite being an active justice at the time. Thomas has said he and Crow—a GOP megadonor—are close friends, and he did not report the gifts because he was advised that they fell under an exception for “personal hospitality.” The revelations about Thomas have sparked calls for greater ethics standards for the Supreme Court, which does not currently prevent justices from engaging in financial transactions with people who have interest in court decisions. Thomas has also drawn attention for his wife’s involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including emailing Republican state lawmakers urging them to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in their state. Other justices have also come under fire for potential conflicts of interest, including Justice John Roberts, whose wife reportedly earned millions in commissions for recruiting attorneys for jobs at law firms, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who attended a holiday party in December hosted by the head of the Conservative Political Action Coalition.

Tangent

Duffy donated $5,400 to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, the maximum allowed under campaign finance laws at the time, according to Federal Election Commission data first cited by Politico. He has also given money to other Democrats like Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (N.Y.) and former Rep. Donna Shalala (Fla.), as well as Republicans such as Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and New York City mayoral candidate Joe Lhota.

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