For Supreme Court justices, book deals have become a highly lucrative way to shape the public narrative of their lives and legacies.
The money brought in by those deals often eclipses their salary, one of the few ways they can supplement their income. About $300,000.
Most of the current judges have published books, most recently Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her memoir, “Lovely one,” which traces his family’s arc from the segregated Jim Crow South to his rise to the Supreme Court, was released this week, and topped Amazon’s best-seller list.
Here’s a closer look.
Which judges have written books?
Six of the nine judges have written books or currently have book deals.
Justice Jackson joins Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas to publish accounts of their childhoods and journeys to the court. Justice Sotomayor has also written several children’s books.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch has focused on law, publishing books describing the ethical and legal issues raised by assisted suicide and euthanasia. His most recent, published this summer, is a series of stories drawn from court cases that he uses to argue that an increasing number of administrative overreach and laws have harmed ordinary Americans.
Two new judges — Amy Connie Barrett and Brett M. Cavanagh — has book deals. Justice Barrett’s book has been described as his views on keeping personal feelings out of judicial judgments. Justice Kavanaugh is expected to release a legal memoir that is likely to touch on his bruising confirmation fight.
How much money did the judges get?
Short answer: It varies widely. Some judges have secured multimillion-dollar book deals and earned royalties over the years, while others see small advances and count their royalties in the hundreds of dollars.
Most of the available information is gathered together from industry insiders familiar with the deals and judges’ required annual financial disclosures, providing a delayed, sometimes incomplete, view.
One point is very clear: the money judges receive from book deals often exceeds their income from the courts. This year the annual salary for associate justices is $298,500 and the annual salary for the chief justice is $312,200.
When Justice Thomas received a $1.5 million advance for his 2007 memoir, the deal was sealed. was informed Highest ever paid for a book by a sitting justice. Originally called “From Pin Point to Points After”, a reference to the small outpost in the coastal lowlands of Georgia where he was born, the memoir was presented as a Horatio Alger-like story.
Since then numerous judges have had multimillion-dollar book deals, including Justice Jackson, who received one in his first few months on the court. It was worth about $3 million, according to people familiar with the contract. She reported receiving her portion of the advance — $893,750 — in her latest financial disclosure.
Soon after Justice Barrett joined the court, she received a $2 million book deal Financial disclosures Say she has been paid $425,000 so far.
Justice Cavanaugh has disclosed $340,000 from his publisher Its 2023 financial form. Justice Gorsuch, on his most recent disclosures, reported several hundred thousand dollars, most recently, from his various books. A payment of $250,000 from HarperCollins.
Over the past several years, Justice Sotomayor has reported receiving a total of nearly $3.7 million for her memoirs and children’s books. She has come under scrutiny in court for using her administrative staff to help organize book events, including urging organizers to buy more copies. According to the Associated PressIn which public records are cited.
Do these deals conflict with judges and their day jobs?
Book deals — and any financial ties to judges — are the thorniest question about potential conflicts of interest.
Supreme Court justices make their own decisions about recusals, meaning they don’t have to recuse themselves from cases. It was enshrined in long-standing practice Code of Court EthicsSome of the Judges who — Especially Justice Thomas – Failed to disclose luxury gifts and travel from wealthy beneficiaries.
Justices were Sotomayor and Gorsuch Faced with criticism for failing to recuse himself from recent court cases involving his publisher, Penguin Random House. The company is involved in two cases related to copyright infringement issues. In both cases, the court refused to take either case on its docket.
Supreme Court Responding to Justice Sotomayor’s Article About Book Selling said in a statement that she participated in the cases due to an “inadvertent omission” that did not bring Penguin’s involvement to her attention. “Chambers’ conflict investigation procedures have since been changed,” it added.
The statement also said that “Justice Sotomayor would have returned to cases in which Penguin Random House was a party, in light of his close and ongoing relationship with the publisher.”
Gabe Roth, who heads the ethics watchdog group Fix the Court, Posted on social media About this week A long-running copyright dispute Which can bring this issue to a head. The case involves the scanning and lending of print library books, including the Internet Archive and several publishing companies working with judges.
Do many people buy these books?
Again, there is wide variation here.
Among current justices, Justice Sotomayor appears to be the most successful book seller overall. To date, her five books, including several for young readers, have collectively sold nearly 700,000 print copies, accounting for 85 percent of the print market, according to Circa Bookscan.
Her most popular book is her 2013 memoir, “My Beloved World,” which has sold more than 320,000 print copies and chronicles her upbringing in an unstable home, her struggle with juvenile diabetes, and her path from Princeton to the Supreme Court, where she became. First Hispanic judge and third woman to serve on the court. Her 2019 children’s book, “Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You” was also a hit and has sold nearly 270,000 print copies.
Justice Thomas also wrote a best-selling memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son,” which was published in 2007 and sold nearly 237,000 print copies. He cites some of the struggles and controversies he has endured, including the polarizing Senate hearing on sexual harassment allegations by his former aide, Anita Hill.
Justice Gorsuch has authored several books on legal and constitutional theory, including “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” which explores the role of judges in the constitutional system and his views on how to interpret the Constitution today; his 2006 book “The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia,” which argues against legalizing euthanasia; and his recently published book, “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law.” Collectively, those books have sold about 64,000 print copies.
Although sales figures for Justice Jackson’s memoir are not yet available, the book has been high on Amazon’s best-seller list since its publication.
Post Book deals for Supreme Court justices can add up to millions of dollars appeared first New York Times.