Supreme Court Issues Rare Statement on Justice Sonia Sotomayor Allegations

Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for their official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington on Oct. 7, 2022. (Front L–R) Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito and Justice Elena Kagan. (Back L–R) Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court responded to investigative claims that Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s staffers pressured colleges to buy her books over the years amid reports that she amassed millions of dollars in net worth since she was named to the high court more than a decade ago.

A report published Tuesday by The Associated Press said it obtained new details about her team’s efforts through open records requests to public institutions, said that Mrs. Sotomayor’s staff has often prodded public institutions that have hosted the justice to buy her memoir as well as her children’s books since she joined the Supreme Court in 2009.

According to the AP’s report, those documents reveal repeated examples of taxpayer-funded court staff performing tasks for the justice’s book ventures, which workers in other branches of government are barred from doing. Supreme Court staffers have been deeply involved in organizing speaking engagements intended to sell books, those documents revealed.

Since she was named to the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama, Mrs. Sotomayor earned some $3.7 million through her children’s books or other works. Another report noted that before she joined, the justice had investments worth between $50,001 and $115,000, but as of 2021, public records indicate she’s now worth about $1.5 million and $6.1 million. Currently, associate members of the high court earn $285,400 annually.

In 2019, as Mrs. Sotomayor traveled the country to promote her new children’s book, “Just Ask!,” library and community college officials in Portland, Oregon, jumped at the chance to host an event, the AP report said. Staffers put in long hours and accommodated the shifting requests of Mrs. Sotomayor’s court staff.

Then, as the public cost of hosting the event soared almost tenfold, a Mrs. Sotomayor aide emailed with a different, urgent concern: She said the organizers did not buy enough copies of the justice’s book, which attendees had to purchase or have on hand in order to meet Mrs. Sotomayor after her talk, according to the report.

In another instance, according to the AP report, officials at Clemson University offered to buy 60 signed copies of one of her books before a 2017 appearance, and her staff said in response that most schools generally purchase 400 copies. It also found that Michigan State University asked her to go to the campus before it spent $100,000 on copies of her memoir in 2018.

Response

In response to the reports about her income, the Supreme Court released a rare, lengthy statement that defended her actions this week.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks at an event in New York City, New York, on March 8, 2019. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

“Judges, including Justices, routinely travel and speak to university, college and law school audiences and affiliated individuals and entities. Judicial staff play an important role in assisting on issues of ethics, travel, and security,” the Supreme Court’s statement to The Associated Press and other news outlets said. “Chambers staff assist the Justices in complying with judicial ethics guidance for such visits, including guidance relating to judges’ publications.

“For example, judicial ethics guidance suggests that a judge may sign copies of his or her work, which may also be available for sale, but there should be no requirement or suggestion that attendees are required to purchase books in order to attend,” the statement added.

Supreme Court justices, it added, are allowed to “engage in extrajudicial activities such as speaking on both legal and nonlegal subjects, and the Code of Conduct encourages public engagement by judges to avoid isolation from the society in which they live and to contribute to the public’s understanding of the law.

“The Court routinely asks event organizers to confirm that an event at which a Justice will speak is not a fundraiser, and it provides a definition of ‘fundraiser’ in order to avoid misunderstandings,” the statement said. “The Court then follows up with event organizers to elicit further information as appropriate. The Court’s practice has been useful: Justices have declined to be featured at events even though event organizers expressly told Chambers that the events were not fundraisers, following additional inquiry by the Court that confirmed them to be fundraisers.”

Meanwhile, records show Justice Clarence Thomas has collected about $1 million since 2006, while Stephen Breyer, who retired in 2022, reported roughly $700,000 in royalty income in the past two decades.

Justice Neil Gorsuch has disclosed more than $900,000 since his 2017 confirmation. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed in 2020, received a reported $2 million advance for a forthcoming book. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson signed a book deal, but the amount of her advance was not public, according to AP.

Mike Davis, founder and president of the conservative-leaning Article III Project, told Fox News that the AP reporting appears to be overblown.

“Justice Sotomayor is a good person who appears to have made a mistake by having her staff sell her books, including what appears as pressure on schools and libraries to buy a minimum number of her books before her speaking engagements,” Davis told the outlet, adding, “The Supreme Court has adequate mechanisms in place to deal with these mistakes, and the Supreme Court has already taken corrective measures.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.