Neil Gorsuch testifies at his confirmation hearing in March. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Justice Neil Gorsuch scored a handy $225,000 advance last year for his forthcoming book “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” according to the justices' financial disclosure statements released Thursday.

Gorsuch's book, which he is writing with the assistance of two of his former law clerks—David Feder and Jane Nitze—is to be published in September by Crown Forum, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

His colleague Justice Sonia Sotomayor is still benefiting from her book-writing labors. In 2018, she received royalties totaling $33,000 from Penguin Random House. She also reported that she received advance royalties from Penguin Random House of $117,500 in 2017, for two books she is writing. Justice Stephen Breyer, another regular book author, received $4,415.69, also from Penguin Random House.

All of the justices spent some time last year traveling to law schools to give speeches or to participate in conversations. Sotomayor was the busiest, visiting 11 law schools around the country, including Emory in Atlanta and Cornell in Ithaca.

Justices Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were the most frequent travelers abroad. Ginsburg participated in Loyola University Chicago School of Law's summer program in Rome. She also received the Genesis Prize Foundation's lifetime achievement award in Tel Aviv, Israel, and then traveled throughout that country as a guest of Morris Kahn, an Israeli billionaire and entrepreneur. Breyer went to Paris for two events, the Fulbright France Program and the Paris Peace Program, as well as to Canada, Ireland and Spain.

The transparency advocacy group Fix the Court, which reviewed the latest financial disclosures, said justices should be required to reveal the market value of their reimbursement for travel, food and lodging “so that the public can better determine whether an outside source is attempting to buy influence.” Gabe Roth, the group's director, said the public is “left in the dark about how lavish these trips may have been.”

Financial holdings in securities can cause justices to sit on the sidelines in a case, and the new reports reveal the latest sales by the justices who do own stocks—Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Breyer and Samuel Alito Jr. They sold up to $345,000 in their portfolios in 2018, according to a review by Fix the Court.

What follows are other highlights from the new reports:

>> Roberts was reimbursed for transportation and meals for events at the Washington University School of Law in Missouri and at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he delivered a lecture and met with students, faculty and federal judges. Roberts reported selling stock in AT&T and Time Inc. Fix the Court said Thursday that Roberts' AT&T stock sale occurred “just eight days after [the group] discovered that he possibly voted on an AT&T petition.” Read Roberts' report here.

Justice Clarence Thomas (2015). Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ ALM

>> Thomas reported earning $28,000 in income from teaching engagements at the University of Kansas School of Law; George Washington University School of Law; and the Georgia University School of Law. Thomas was reimbursed last year for speaking trips at the Federalist Society Texas Chapters in September, and at the University Club of New York in February. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Horatio Alger Association. He said his wife received salary and benefits from Liberty Consulting. Read Thomas' report here.

>> Kagan said she received $17,500 from Harvard for a teaching gig there, and she received transportation reimbursement for speeches at Hunter College; Columbia Law School; Princeton University; University of California, Los Angeles School of Law; and the University of Toronto. Read Kagan's report here.

>> Gorsuch, in addition to his $225,000 in royalty income from Penguin Random House LLC, also received about $800 in royalties from Princeton University Press. On a report capturing income from 2017, Gorsuch recorded receiving $9,020 in royalties from Princeton University Press, which published his 2006 book “The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.” On his latest report, Gorsuch said he earned $13,250 as an adjunct professor at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. He also reported a gift of a watercolor painting—valued at $1,000—from the Senior Judge Terrence O'Brien of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Read Gorsuch's report here.

>> Alito reported receiving $20,250 total for teaching at Duke University School of Law in January and in June. Alito participated in a moot court at Fordham Law School in April 2018, for which he was paid back for transportation, lodging and meals. He also was reimbursed for his trip to Rome last December for a conference sponsored by St. John's University School of Law. Alito sold Merck & Co. stock in October, sold Oracle Corp. stock in January. That month, Alito announced he would rejoin his colleagues to participate in the copyright case Rimini Street v. Oracle USA. Read Alito's report here.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh met with President Trump on Thursday at the US Supreme Court for the newly confirmed justice's investiture. Credit: Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

>> Kavanaugh appears to be liability-free now. On a 2017 disclosure report, he identified a Thrift Savings Plan liability. But his latest disclosure shows no liabilities. He received transportation and meals reimbursements from Notre Dame Law School, Harvard Law School and Yale Law School for Federalist Society speaking engagements between February and April last year. In January 2018, Kavanaugh taught a class at Harvard Law School, for which he received $27,765. He also listed his position as director of the Washington Jesuit Academy. Read Kavanaugh's new report here.

>> Breyer was reimbursed for speaking events including the Aspen Ideas Festival in July; Tufts University in April; and the University of Virginia in February. Breyer served as a juror on the Pritzker prize for architecture in January 2018. Breyer identified two assets that he said his wife acquired but had been omitted on prior financial disclosures. He said those earlier reports will be “amended to reflect these holdings.” Breyer's report also identified the accounting firm—Citrin Cooperman & Co.—that prepared his financial disclosure. Read Breyer's report here.

>> Ginsburg was reimbursed for trips including the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018 in Utah, and a conversational program at New York University School of Law in February 2018. Ginsburg traveled to Israel in July as a tourist and guest of billionaire Kahn, for which she was reimbursed for transportation, lodging and food. Read Ginsburg's report here.

>> Sotomayor, who has taken on the initiative begun by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, is a governing director of iCivics. Read Sotomayor's latest report here.

 

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