WASHINGTON _ Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's first Supreme Court appointee, on Thursday drew protesters to the Trump International Hotel when he gave his first major speech in Washington there to a conservative education group.
Several progressive groups accused Gorsuch of undercutting the court's appearance of impartiality. They said he may be required to recuse himself if the justices are asked to decide whether Trump is violating the Constitution's ban on presidents taking an emolument from a foreign state _ as critics have suggested he is _ by profiting from foreign emissaries using the hotel.
"In an era of ruthless ideological divisions, Justice Gorsuch's decision will undermine the court's public legitimacy as an entity above partisan politics," the groups said in a public letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
The groups included the Planned Parenthood Federation, the Alliance for Justice and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Gorsuch also drew criticism a week ago for joining Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to speak at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, McConnell's home state.
In his role as majority leader, McConnell played the key role last year in blocking hearings for President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, which cleared the way for Trump to name Gorsuch to fill the vacant seat and the Republican-controlled Senate to confirm him this year.
In November, Gorsuch is scheduled to give the keynote address at the annual convention of the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers group.
The meaning of an "emolument" is not entirely clear from the Constitution, but Trump has been sued by a watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for violating the constitutional ban. It cites the president's ownership of the high-end hotel, situated on Pennsylvania Avenue between Congress and the White House, and said his profits could be deemed as emoluments because foreign diplomats are choosing to spend money there.
A judge in New York is scheduled to hear arguments in the case Oct. 18.
