Supreme Court Justice Alito Files Detailed Financial Disclosure for 2023

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in Washington on Oct. 7, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

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.

The document, dated Aug. 13, became publicly available on Sept. 6, months after other members of the court filed their disclosure forms—Alito had received an extension.

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 comprising 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; and Johnson & Johnson. Virginia Beach general obligation bonds paid $1,000 or less in interest.

Alito was criticized by some lawmakers last year for not previously disclosing a 2008 Alaska fishing trip that was paid for by Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire and GOP donor. He was also criticized for not recusing himself from a 2014 case related to the fund, Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital. Alito voted with the court majority, siding with a subsidiary of Singer’s fund that wanted access to Argentina’s records to find assets related to a $2.5 billion bond default.

The justices approved a code of conduct governing their behavior in November 2023, but critics say the code is toothless because it relies on voluntary compliance.

This year, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Clarence Thomas both revealed substantial gifts that they received while on the court. Thomas said in his 2023 disclosure that he “inadvertently omitted” trips paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow on his report for 2019. He also said he received two photo albums worth about $2,000. Jackson reported gifts of artwork for her chambers and tickets to a Beyonce concert.

Alito’s and Thomas’s failures 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 last year approved the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, proposed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), but the measure has 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.