Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has filed a detailed annual financial disclosure report offering insights into his financial situation.
Alito’s new 12-page filing for calendar 2023 with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts comes as the court’s justices face increasing scrutiny from federal lawmakers over their personal finances. Supreme Court ethics have also become a political issue in the current election cycle.
In the filing, Alito said he received concert tickets worth $900 from Dowager Princess Gloria von Thurn and Taxis, a businesswoman who is also a German noble. No other details of the gift were provided.
The justice also said he took out a loan of $15,000 or less that was secured by his account assets held by Edward Jones, a financial services firm. Alito said the loan was “inadvertently omitted” from prior reports.
Alito reported an extensive investment portfolio comprised of 110 individual assets. In many categories, the person completing the form is allowed to provide a range—as opposed to a specific amount—for the value of the asset.
The largest dividend he reported was $15,001-$50,000 from Vanguard Wellington Mutual Fund where he has $250,001-$500,000 invested.
He reported receiving dividends of $1,000 or less from stock in Anheuser-Busch InBev; Abbott Laboratories, a medical device company; Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company; and general obligation bonds issued by Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Alito and Thomas’s failure to initially report gifts from wealthy individuals connected to the Republican Party prompted Democratic lawmakers in Congress to press for a binding code of conduct to be imposed on the justices.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) proposed Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act last year, but the measure is stalled in the Senate.
The bill would allow members of the public to file complaints against justices for violating the code of conduct or for engaging “in conduct that undermines the integrity” of the court. The bill would also allow lower court judges to sit in judgment of Supreme Court justices in ethics disputes.
Alito said last year that legislation forcing a code of conduct on the justices is unconstitutional.
“No provision in the Constitution gives [Congress] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period,” he said.