Tom Goldstein to Remain Free Pending Eventual Sentencing (1)

The government retreated from its Thursday request to jail renowned US Supreme Court litigator and SCOTUSBlog co-founder Tom Goldstein while he awaits sentencing on tax and false statements charges.

The prosecution advised Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, who is presiding over the case in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, early in the day that it intended to seek Goldstein’s detention, but by the time she was ready to hear a formal motion Thursday afternoon, it said it was seeking additional conditions of release instead.

Going forward, Goldstein will be on home confinement in Washington with permission to attend unspecified treatment. She also said Probation & Pretrial Services could impose whatever location monitoring technology pretrial services deemed necessary.

The government had argued that Goldstein’s wife and SCOTUSblog co-founder Amy Howe, from whom he is now separated, was no longer a reliable custodian. But Griggsby said she saw no reason to change the current arrangement as it has worked so far and Howe remains willing.

She also said she’d leave the bond on Goldstein’s Washington home in place to help to secure his appearance at future proceedings.

No sentencing date has been set.

Forfeiture

The jury was called back Thursday to decide whether the home, which he currently shares with Howe, was derived from proceeds of making a false statement on a loan application. They concluded it wasn’t, so it won’t be subject to forfeiture.

Goldstein had disclaimed any interest in the house, saying he was fighting forfeiture to protect Howe’s interest.

In another small victory for Goldstein, Griggsby agreed to revisit an order implemented last year, barring him from contacting certain individuals, once the parties have had a chance to meet and confer about who should perhaps remain on the list. The government said it may still call some of those individuals as witnesses at Goldstein’s eventual sentencing.

The list includes some of “Goldstein’s closest friends in the world,” and this is a time “when maybe more than at any other time during his life, he needs his friends,” counsel for Goldstein told the court.

Goldstein was convicted Wednesday following a six-week trial featuring a day and a half of testimony in his own defense. He was found guilty on one count of tax evasion, one count each of willful failure to timely pay taxes for four tax years, three counts of making a false statement on a loan application, and four counts of aiding and assisting in preparation of a false tax return.

He faces a maximum of 30 years on each false statement count. He also faces a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment for tax evasion, three years for each count of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, and one year on each count of willful failure to pay taxes.

The case is United States v. Goldstein, D. Md., No. 8:25-cr-00006, 2/26/26.