The 2023 financial disclosure report for Supreme Court Justices shows six-figure payments to Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.
According to the financial disclosures for eight of nine Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas revealed for the first-time that he visited Bali in 2019 and attended a private club located in California, both paid for by Harlan Crow. Crow is a Texas billionaire and Thomas’ friend.
The required annual report, which covers activity in 2023 shows that three justices — Brett M. Kavanaugh and Neil M. Gorsuch — received book payments of six figures.
Beyonce also gave Jackson four concert tickets, worth almost $4,000, to attend one of her concerts. She also donated two works of art valued at $12,500 for display in the courtroom.
“Justice Jackson has fallen in love with Beyonce’s music.” Patricia McCabe, a court spokesperson, said: “Who isn’t?”
Sonia Sotomayor, a Justice of the Supreme Court, has been credited with a stellar performance as a cartoon on “Alma’s Way,” a PBS animated series that follows a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx and a Puerto Rican child. She was paid $1,900 to voice an episode where she played herself.
Reports show that several justices earn additional income by teaching in law schools and accepting travel expenses to speak at legal and university events.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. received an extension for filing his report as he had in previous years.
In the past year, Supreme Court justices’ off-the-bench activity has been scrutinized by media outlets and ProPublica. They reported that Thomas had failed to disclose for years luxury vacations funded by Crow. Crow is an influential Republican donor.
Thomas’ report from last year revealed for the first-time Crow’s purchase three properties years earlier by the family of the justice. ProPublica had also reported on the transactions, and ethics experts said that the justice should have reported them when they happened.
Thomas disclosed the free private jet travel that he had received in the year prior to 2023, stating that a clarification of the ethics policies for the judiciary meant this reporting was required since 2022.
Last year, Democratic lawmakers and transparency activists asked the policy-making body of the judiciary to examine Thomas’s reporting methods. They claimed that he may have violated the Ethics in Government Act. The head of the Judicial Conference said that a committee was still investigating the accusations from lawmakers at the Judicial Conference in March.
Thomas’s report for 2023 includes the food and lodging that Thomas paid in 2019 on trips to Indonesia, and at the Bohemian Grove Club in California. Both were paid by Crow. They are also included in ProPublica reporting. The justice claimed that he “inadvertently” omitted the information from previous reports, and was amending his record in accordance with the review prior filings. He did not include travel to and away from each location.
Gabe Roth of the Fix the Court watchdog group questioned whether Thomas had been fully transparent. Roth said that under the new court ethics guidelines, Thomas should also have disclosed his private jet flight to Bali and his yacht travel in Indonesia. ProPublica reported in 2018 that Thomas had traveled to Bali, Indonesia aboard Crow’s superyacht and Crow’s private plane. ProPublica estimated that the total cost was more than $500,000.
Roth stated, “The fact that I and he have different interpretations about his disclosure obligations is the reason why he left out the plane to Indonesia as well as the yacht in Indonesia.” “And that is a problem.”
Thomas, who claimed to have consulted an accountant and an ethics counsel when he filed his report, didn’t immediately respond to the request for comment. In his report from last year, the justice stated that he thought that this change only applied to travel after 2022.
The federal ethics law requires that top officials in all branches of government – including justices – file an annual disclosure listing gifts, investments, outside income, and the source for spousal earnings so the public can evaluate potential conflicts of interests. The requirements for officials in the executive and legislative branches are also more strict.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. earned $312,200 in salary for the year of January. Associate justices earn each $298,500. According to the rules of the judiciary, justices are only allowed “extra-earned income” up to $32,000 per annum. Three of them earn this amount through teaching.
Book-writing fees do not count towards outside income. This allows justices to sign lucrative contracts with publishers. At least four justices will be publishing books on their lives and law. Kavanaugh has received $340,000 for his book. According to reports released on Friday, he is currently working on it. A court spokesperson confirmed that Kavanaugh was writing a legal autobiography, as reported by Axios.
Jackson has received an advance of $893,750 from Penguin Random House on her forthcoming memoir “Lovely One.” According to the publisher, the book traces her family’s rise from segregation, to her confirmation to America’s Supreme Court within the span a generation.
Gorsuch received royalties of $250,000 from HarperCollins. The publisher is planning to release in August a book that he wrote with an ex-law clerk. “Overruled” will examine how many laws there are in the United States, and what “human toll that can have on ordinary Americans.”
The following are highlights of each justice’s federal disclosure.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Roberts did not report any gifts, reimbursements or positions outside of Roberts’ company, as in previous years.
Justice Clarence Thomas
Thomas received two photo albums valued at $2,000 from Terrence Giroux and Barbara Giroux. Thomas is a member of an exclusive nonprofit organization that awards college scholarships to students who embody Horatio Alger’s “rags-to-riches” character.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Sotomayor has received almost $87,000 from Penguin Random House for a series of books that she authored.
According to Sotomayor’s disclosure report, the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation reimbursed her for appearances she made in Massachusetts and Los Angeles between 2023 and 2024. The first trip was for the presentation of the Justice Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award. The second was to judge a mock court and meet with students.
Justice Elena Kagan
After she delivered a speech at the law school in September, Notre Dame Law School reimbursed Justice Elena Kagan’s travel expenses, meals and lodging.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch
Gorsuch also received nearly

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/07/supreme-court-financial-disclosures-gifts-thomas/