One of my favorite hobbies is scanning the Supreme Court’s orders list and trying to figure out why a Justice recuses. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson will indicate whether the recusal is due to prior government service or something to that effect. The other justices offer no explanation at all. Even then, it is usually easy to figure out the recusal. For example, Justice Alito has disclosed the ownership of certain stocks, which will often trigger recusals. In other cases, such as St. Isidore, we can speculate about a recusal due to a personal relationship. But then there are some recusals that are tougher to figure out.
In today’s orders list, Justice Gorsuch recused in Glynn Environmental Coalition v. Sea Island Acquisition. The case came from the Eleventh Circuit, so there was no obvious recusal from prior service. And I was no aware that Gorsuch held stock in either company. So I did a little digging.
It turns out that a decade ago the Respondent Sea Island Acquisition was purchased, in part, by The Anschutz Corporation. The Sea Island Hotel is now affiliated with the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado. The ties between Justice Gorsuch and Philip F. Anschutz have been well documented, and led to his 2024 recusal in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition. v. Eagle County, Colorado. I would wager that Gorsuch’s recusal here is Anschutz related.
There was no brief in opposition to certiorari filed here, so there was no disclosure form. I wonder how this case was flagged for a recusal? Does every cert petition get filtered by the Court for possible conflicts?
