Several U.S. Supreme Court justices reported hundreds of thousands in book payments, according to disclosure forms that were made public on Friday.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson received concert tickets from singer Beyoncé and a nearly $900,000 advance payment for a forthcoming book, according to a disclosure form that was made public on Friday.
Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Sonia Sotomayor also reported income from books they have published or will publish.
Justice Kavanaugh reported being paid $340,000 by Regnery Publishing, while the court confirmed Friday that the justice is writing a legal memoir. Justices Gorsuch and Sotomayor reported royalty income of $250,000 and nearly $90,000, respectively.
Justice Jackson signed her book contract soon after taking her seat in 2022. The book, “Lovely One,” is slated to be published in September.
Thomas Amends Disclosure
An amended disclosure, dated March 15 and made public on Friday, also showed that Justice Clarence Thomas made one trip on July 12, 2019, to Bali, Indonesia. The other trip was from July 18 to July 21, 2019. The location was Monte Rio, California.A lawyer for Justice Thomas had said in 2023 that critics were wrong when they asserted the justice had failed to report all the gifts he received on his disclosures. Justice Thomas reported only one gift for 2023. He said he received two photo albums worth about $2,000.
Justice Samuel Alito is the only justice whose report was not available Friday after he received an extension for up to 90 days, as he does most years. The justice has separately been under scrutiny over flags that flew outside homes he owns.
Previously, some critics of the U.S. Supreme Court have called for stricter reporting requirements from the justices. Some have said that they shouldn’t be able to accept gifts at all.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court announced its first code of conduct governing the ethical behavior of the justices amid outside pressure after it was revealed that they took undisclosed vacations and trips.
The code was adopted after several reports stated that Justice Thomas went on trips paid for by a billionaire whom the justice said was a personal friend.
The nine-page code stipulates that the justices’ outside relationships should not influence their court rulings or conduct, adding that they should also not use judicial resources or staff for nonofficial activities “to any substantial degree.”
“To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct,” the court’s statement said at the time.
Separately, some Democrat senators have suggested in recent weeks that Justice Alito recuse himself from several upcoming cases for a different reason, noting reports that an upside down U.S. flag and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag were flown at his home in 2021. The justice has said that his wife flew those flags over a distressing incident with his neighbors.
Justice Alito, in response, has said that he will not recuse himself from from a pair of upcoming Supreme Court decisions.
McConnell Weighs In
Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested that the Supreme Court could punish certain members of the Senate who have pushed for the recusal of justices.The issue matters, he said, “because at least two of these colleagues of ours, the junior senator from Rhode Island and the senior senator from Connecticut, seem to be members of the Supreme Court Bar. If so, they are, therefore, potentially engaged in unethical professional conduct before the Court.”
He said that because those senators are lawyers, they “are officers of the court and bound by a different set of rules than a mere senator.”
