--- title: Supreme Court Justices' Incomes Revealed in New Reports description: New financial-disclosure reports released Thursday reveal how much the U.S. Supreme Court Justices made last year. canonical: https://time.com/6186294/supreme-court-salary-book-deals/ author: Madeleine Carlisle article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-06-09T21:47:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:41.298Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's How Much the Supreme Court Justices Made Last Year og:description: Some of them raked in six figures in book deals and royalties. og:url: https://time.com/6186294/supreme-court-salary-book-deals/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d87f29f54dba66d/698a32b816d8841d00c3abad/GettyImages-1232480766.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Supreme Court Justices Pose For Formal Group Photo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Much the Supreme Court Justices Made Last Year twitter:description: Some of them raked in six figures in book deals and royalties. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d87f29f54dba66d/698a32b816d8841d00c3abad/GettyImages-1232480766.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Much the Supreme Court Justices Made Last Year ## Video: How Supreme Court Justices Responded to a Lawsuit That Could Upend the Internet [Watch (HLS stream): How Supreme Court Justices Responded to a Lawsuit That Could Upend the Internet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YIevRQka.m3u8) (2:55)  _Published 2023-02-22. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments of a case that has the potential to transform the internet—whether tech companies can be held liable for the content on their platforms. But if the initial rounds of questioning were any indication, it does not seem likely that the court is ready to disrupt the status quo of Section 230, which shields platforms like YouTube and Facebook from lawsuits over the content they host. Judges on both sides of the ideological aisle expressed skepticism of the plaintiff’s arguments, and suggested several times that reform should be left to Congress. While the Supreme Court may yet upend Section 230 in the future, it seems unlikely Justices will do so through this case. That means the activists demanding the Big Tech reform will likely have to continue fighting an uphill battle._  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Jun 9, 2022 9:47 PM UTC  Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 23, 2021\. Seated from left: Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Standing from left: Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 23, 2021\. Seated from left: Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Standing from left: Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.Erin Schaff—Pool/Getty Images  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Jun 9, 2022 9:47 PM UTC New financial-disclosure reports released Thursday reveal how much the U.S. Supreme Court Justices made last year—and show that some of them were able to add six figures to their salaries through lucrative book deals. Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court’s newest member, reported in her 2021 disclosure that she received $425,000 last year from the Javelin Group, a literary agent, in book royalties. Politico [reported](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/19/bill-barr-amy-coney-barrett-book-deals-483028) last April that Justice Barrett had sold a book about how judges must remain neutral for a $2 million advance. There is no law limiting how much justices can make from book publications, and numerous justices have written books on their background and judicial philosophy. Neil Gorsuch, who joined the bench in 2017, reported $250,000 in earnings from publisher HarperCollins in 2021\. Politico [reported](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/09/gorsuch-250k-book-advance-harpercollins-00038579) Thursday that Gorsuch has signed a deal with the company to write a new book on judicial and regulatory policy. Gorsuch published a book with Penguin Random House in 2019 titled [_A Republic, If You Can Keep It_](https://time.com/5670400/justice-neil-gorsuch-why-originalism-is-the-best-approach-to-the-constitution/), and reported earning $325,000 in 2019 and $100,000 in 2020 in royalty income from the publisher. Sonia Sotomayor—who [the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/09/amy-coney-barrett-book-deal/) reports has disclosed more than $3.3 million in book payments since 2010—reported earning $115,593 in book royalties from Penguin Random House last year, with whom she has released multiple children’s books. This book income is in addition to a [base salary](https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-compensation) of $268,300 in 2021 for the eight Associate Justices and $280,500 for Chief Justice John Roberts. Justices are legally limited to not earn more than roughly $30,000 for outside teaching. Several justices earned close to that in 2021\. Clarence Thomas reported earning $29,595 from George Washington University School of Law and University of Notre Dame combined, Gorsuch earned $26,541 from George Mason University, Brett Kavanaugh made $25,541 from George Mason, and Barrett made $14,280 from University of Notre Dame, where she was previously a professor. --- ### More from TIME --- Samuel Alito’s disclosures have not yet been released, and the Washington _Post_ reported that court officials said he filed for an extension. The Supreme Court did not respond to TIME’s request for comment. The 2021 financial disclosures, [published online by the court reform advocacy organization Fix the Court](https://fixthecourt.com/2021disclosures/), come during a period of heightened scrutiny on Supreme Court ethics reforms. On May 13, President Joe Biden [signed a law](https://time.com/6176657/supreme-court-justices-ethics-rules/) that will increase financial disclosure requirements for federal judges and Supreme Court Justices going forward, mandating a creation of an online database where the public can search federal judges’ and Supreme Court Justices’ financial disclosures. The law also mandates that judges and Justices follow the same financial disclosure rules as Congress, which require them to file transaction reports. The new law will take effect by the time the Justices release their financial disclosures next year. The latest financial disclosures were released within weeks of when the Justices are expected to rule on one of the most anticipated Supreme Court cases in a generation, [_Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization_](https://time.com/6116072/mississippi-abortion-supreme-court-jackson-womens-health/)_,_ after an [unprecedented leak of a draft opinion](https://time.com/6173019/supreme-court-leak-roe-v-wade-abortion/) in the case written by Alito showed the Supreme Court poised to [overturn the constitutional right to abortion access](https://time.com/6176180/overturn-roe-transform-america/) enshrined in 1973’s _Roe v. 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