Poker Face

You've got to know when to fold 'em:

SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein, who is also charged with making false statements to two mortgage lenders, has appeared before the Supreme Court more times than nearly any other attorney in private practice in modern times. The indictment alleges that for the tax years 2016 through 2021, Goldstein willfully failed to pay more than $5.3 million in taxes he owed the IRS. Goldstein, 54, has taught at Harvard Law School and was one of several lawyers who represented then-Vice President Al Gore in the Bush v. Gore case at the Supreme Court, which ceased the recounting of Florida ballots in the disputed 2000 presidential election. He has also successfully represented Google at the Supreme Court in the case where its use of Oracle software code in Android was accused of violating U.S. copyright law. In November, Goldstein authored a New York Times guest essay that called for the end of criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump. Goldstein also has been “an ultrahigh-stakes power player, frequently playing in matches or series of matches in the United States and abroad involving stakes totaling millions, and even tens of millions, of dollars,” according to the 22-count indictment against him in U.S. District Court in Maryland. In a series of matches against a foreign gambler in Asia in 2016, the indictment says, Goldstein won about $13.8 million. Several months later, in a series of matches against a California businessman in Beverly Hills, Goldstein won $26.4 million, according to the indictment.

The gambler seems to have lost this bet...