Latest news with #JusticeGorsuch
Reuters
13 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
US Supreme Court justices disclose income from book deals and teaching
WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson received a book advance of more than $2 million for her bestselling memoir, and other justices reported lucrative law school teaching positions in annual financial disclosure forms released on Tuesday. Eight of the nine justices disclosed their 2024 outside income and gifts, as required for certain senior government officials. Justice Samuel Alito was granted a 90-day extension, according to the court. The filings showed the outside income, gifts and investment transactions for the justices last year. The filings are closely watched as the justices in recent years have come under scrutiny over ethics questions following revelations that some of them failed to report luxury trips, including on private jets, and real estate transactions. As in recent years, the disclosures showed the lucrative nature of book publishing for members of the nation's highest judicial body. Jackson said she received a $2,068,750 book advance last year from Penguin Random House for her memoir "Lovely One." That comes after a previously reported 2023 advance of $893,750 for the book chronicling her ascent as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She also reported being reimbursed by her publisher last year for more than a dozen book events across the country beginning in August when her memoir hit bookshelves. Justice Neil Gorsuch reported book royalty income of more than $250,000, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor reported nearly $74,000 in royalties, as well as a $60,000 advance for a new children's book, set for release in September. Some of the justices reported income from law school teaching roles. Gorsuch reported an income of $30,379 from George Mason University for teaching a roughly two-week course in July 2024 in Porto, Portugal. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett each received $31,815 from the University of Notre Dame Law School, with Kavanaugh having a teaching stint in October 2024 and Barrett having one in August 2024, according to their filings. Chief Justice John Roberts co-taught a two-week course in Galway, Ireland in July 2024 for New England Law, a private Boston-based law school, but his compensation was not reported in his 2024 disclosure because he was paid in February 2025. Just like last year, Alito was granted a 90-day extension. His disclosure last year reported receiving concert tickets in 2023 worth $900 from Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, a German aristocrat. The justices in 2023 adopted their first code of conduct governing their ethical behavior following revelations of undisclosed luxury trips and hobnobbing with wealthy benefactors. Critics and some congressional Democrats have said the ethics code does not go far enough to promote transparency, continuing to leave decisions to recuse from cases to the justices themselves and providing no mechanism of enforcement.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Gorsuch warns Supreme Court decision gives IRS 'powerful new tool to avoid accountability'
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a dissent to the Supreme Court's decision to limit the U.S. Tax Court's authority in certain Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cases, asserting that the federal tax collecting service could avoid accountability in the future. Gorsuch wrote the dissent to the high court's opinion in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Zuch, a case that centers on Jennifer Zuch's dispute with the IRS that began in 2012 over the agency's moves regarding her late 2010 federal tax return filing. "Along the way, the Court's decision hands the IRS a powerful new tool to avoid accountability for its mistakes in future cases like this one," Gorsuch wrote in his dissent. In this case, Zuch claimed that the IRS made a mistake, crediting a $50,000 payment to her then-husband's account instead of her own. The IRS disagreed and sought to collect her unpaid taxes with a levy to seize and sell her property. Over the years after the dispute began, Zuch filed several annual tax returns showing overpayments. Instead of being issued refunds, the IRS applied these to her outstanding 2010 tax liability. Once the IRS settled Zuch's outstanding sum, her liability reached zero, and the IRS no longer had a reason to levy her property. The IRS then moved to dismiss Zuch's case in Tax Court, arguing that Tax Court lacked jurisdiction since there was no longer a levy on her property. The Tax Court agreed. The Supreme Court upheld that Tax Court no longer had jurisdiction without a levy. "Because there was no longer a proposed levy, the Tax Court properly concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to resolve questions about Zuch's disputed tax liability," read the high court's opinion. The decision will not only prevent Zuch from recouping her overpayments that she believes the IRS has wrongly retained, but give the IRS a way to avoid accountability, Gorsuch wrote in his dissent. "The IRS seeks, and the Court endorses, a view of the law that gives that agency a roadmap for evading Tax Court review and never having to answer a taxpayer's complaint that it has made a mistake," the justice wrote.
USA Today
26-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Department of Government Efficiency vital in accountability, transparency
Department of Government Efficiency vital in accountability, transparency | Opinion Long-overdue attempt to rein in government spending President Donald Trump announced his intent to create a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with a focus on dismantling government bureaucracy, cutting wasteful expenditures, slashing excess regulations, and restructuring federal agencies. Florida TaxWatch commends the president for this bold and long-overdue attempt to rein in government spending and make government more accountable. In a recent book entitled 'Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law,' U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch chronicles a dramatic transfer of power from elected representatives to unelected agency officials. Justice Gorsuch cites a 2019 study by the Pacific Legal Foundation that found 71 percent of the more than 3,000 rules issued by the Department of Health and Human Services between 2001 and 2017 were originated by lower-level officials, and not by Senate-confirmed agency leaders. At the Food and Drug Administration, that figure was 98 percent. In 2015, the Congress passed about 100 laws − federal agencies issued more than 3,000 final rules and published more than 2,200 proposed rules. Justice Gorsuch uses several examples to illustrate this overreach by federal agencies, including The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West. Mr. Hemingway was given a six-toed cat by a ship's captain and some of the 60 or so cats who live on the museum grounds today are descendants of that original cat. During a 2003 visit, an official from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) told museum staff that they needed a license to keep the cats, and that the cats should be confined to cages or individual shelters 'for their safety.' Months later, the USDA official returned with more suggestions to contain the cats, including hiring a night watchman for the cats, reducing the number of cats, or increasing the height of the historic brick wall that surrounds the museum. Because the museum is a National Historic Site, the wall could not be altered so the USDA recommended installing a 'hot wire' to electrically shock cats attempting to leave the property. Fast forward to more than five years later and several modifications to the property under the threat of USDA fines ($200 per cat per day, totaling $10,000 per day), several appeals, and rejected hearings, the museum finally secured its license. All told, the museum spent more than $200,000 dealing with USDA officials. The bill for the taxpayers is unknown; however, CBS News documented 14 trips by federal agents and a $17,000 'cat evaluation.' This is just one of many instances that illustrate what Justice Gorsuch refers to as the 'human toll of too much law.' When the U.S. Constitution was passed, the framers envisioned a federal government with limited authority. It was state and local governments, those closest to the people, to which the Constitution afforded 'numerous and indefinite' powers. Since the 1960's, however, Congress has passed many new laws and created new federal agencies to deal with issues that were previously left up to the states. Justice Gorsuch cites a 1998 American Bar Association task force finding that 40 percent of federal criminal provisions enacted since the Civil War have been enacted since 1970. Estimates suggest that the number of federal regulations that carry criminal penalties exceeds 300,000! Importantly, the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo which overturned its 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council opens the door for significant reform. This ruling has the effect of curtailing the power of federal agencies to interpret laws they administer, giving authority to interpret ambiguous laws to the courts. The Loper Bright ruling opens the door for DOGE to eliminate thousands of regulations that exceed statutory authority. It is imperative that those tasked with responsibility for dismantling government bureaucracy, cutting wasteful expenditures, slashing excess regulations, and restructuring federal agencies focus their initial efforts on identifying and retiring laws and rules that are obsolete and those that infringe upon individual liberties. If the Department of Government Efficiency is to be successful, it must get government off the backs of the taxpayer and keep it off. Jeff Kottkamp, Esq., serves as the executive vice president and general counsel of Florida TaxWatch, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute and government watchdog for more than 45 years. He is the former lt. governor of the State of Florida.
