Credit:
Nate Sweitzer for ProPublica
ProPublica Updates Supreme Connections Database With Newly Released Financial Disclosures
We’ve updated our database with the latest financial filings from eight justices, detailing millions in book income, almost 40 trips and one gift.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
We updated our Supreme Connections database with newly released financial disclosures from eight Supreme Court justices on Friday, covering the 2024 calendar year.
Supreme Connections is our database that makes it easy for anyone to browse justices’ financial disclosures and to search for connections to people and companies mentioned within them.
This update includes disclosures filed in May and made public late last month. Justice Samuel Alito received a 90-day extension, and his disclosure is expected later this summer.
The latest update details millions in book income, almost 40 trips and one gift.
Among the disclosures:
- Justice Clarence Thomas’ 2024 disclosure listed no gifts or travel reimbursements. In 2023, a ProPublica investigation revealed that Thomas was a frequent recipient of luxury travel and gifts from billionaire benefactors — and that he often failed to disclose them.
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reported a $2.07 million advance from Penguin Random House for her memoir, “Lovely One,” published in 2024. She also disclosed more than a dozen reimbursed trips to cities including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Seattle, Chicago and Boston, mostly in connection with her book tour.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor disclosed a $60,000 book advance and over $73,000 in additional royalty payments, also from Penguin Random House. She listed eight reimbursed trips from various universities, including international travel to Panama City, Zurich and Vienna, as well as a $1,437 gift from the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Mo.
- Justice Neil Gorsuch reported $250,000 in royalties from HarperCollins, plus income from teaching at George Mason University. He took at least six paid-for trips, including international travel to Germany and Portugal, and domestic stops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Williamsburg, Virginia.
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett received $31,815 in teaching income from the University of Notre Dame and reported three trips, including travel to Malibu, California, and two visits to Notre Dame.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh reported $31,815 in teaching income from Notre Dame and listed two trips there.
- Justice Elena Kagan reported a trip to New York City for a speech at New York University.
- Chief Justice John Roberts disclosed two reimbursed trips: one to Galway, Ireland, and another to West Point, New York, for events hosted by New England Law and the United States Military Academy, respectively.
We’ve also added new ways to view the justices’ investment holdings. Previously, investments were sorted by value. Now, you can group investments by account to see how justices structure their holdings, or you can sort investments by the order in which they appear on the original disclosure forms, making it easier to cross-reference our data to the original filings.
Browse the database to learn more.
Do you have any tips on the Supreme Court? Josh Kaplan can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at [email protected] or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.
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Credit:
Nate Sweitzer for ProPublica
ProPublica Updates Supreme Connections Database With Newly Released Financial Disclosures
We’ve updated our database with the latest financial filings from eight justices, detailing millions in book income, almost 40 trips and one gift.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
We updated our Supreme Connections database with newly released financial disclosures from eight Supreme Court justices on Friday, covering the 2024 calendar year.
Supreme Connections is our database that makes it easy for anyone to browse justices’ financial disclosures and to search for connections to people and companies mentioned within them.
This update includes disclosures filed in May and made public late last month. Justice Samuel Alito received a 90-day extension, and his disclosure is expected later this summer.
The latest update details millions in book income, almost 40 trips and one gift.
Among the disclosures:
- Justice Clarence Thomas’ 2024 disclosure listed no gifts or travel reimbursements. In 2023, a ProPublica investigation revealed that Thomas was a frequent recipient of luxury travel and gifts from billionaire benefactors — and that he often failed to disclose them.
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reported a $2.07 million advance from Penguin Random House for her memoir, “Lovely One,” published in 2024. She also disclosed more than a dozen reimbursed trips to cities including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Seattle, Chicago and Boston, mostly in connection with her book tour.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor disclosed a $60,000 book advance and over $73,000 in additional royalty payments, also from Penguin Random House. She listed eight reimbursed trips from various universities, including international travel to Panama City, Zurich and Vienna, as well as a $1,437 gift from the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Mo.
- Justice Neil Gorsuch reported $250,000 in royalties from HarperCollins, plus income from teaching at George Mason University. He took at least six paid-for trips, including international travel to Germany and Portugal, and domestic stops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Williamsburg, Virginia.
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett received $31,815 in teaching income from the University of Notre Dame and reported three trips, including travel to Malibu, California, and two visits to Notre Dame.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh reported $31,815 in teaching income from Notre Dame and listed two trips there.
- Justice Elena Kagan reported a trip to New York City for a speech at New York University.
- Chief Justice John Roberts disclosed two reimbursed trips: one to Galway, Ireland, and another to West Point, New York, for events hosted by New England Law and the United States Military Academy, respectively.
We’ve also added new ways to view the justices’ investment holdings. Previously, investments were sorted by value. Now, you can group investments by account to see how justices structure their holdings, or you can sort investments by the order in which they appear on the original disclosure forms, making it easier to cross-reference our data to the original filings.
Browse the database to learn more.
Do you have any tips on the Supreme Court? Josh Kaplan can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at [email protected] or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.
What We’re Watching
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.
Democrats Won a North Carolina Supreme Court Seat. But They Lost Control Over the Board That Sets Election Rules.
Republican Jefferson Griffin conceded after a monthslong legal battle. But Democrats suffered a defeat that may be more consequential: losing control of the state board that sets voting rules and adjudicates election disputes.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Will Extreme Spending and Partisanship Undermine Trust in State Supreme Courts?
The millions in campaign funding poured into the Wisconsin Supreme Court election spotlights the increasing partisanship around these supposedly neutral court roles. It also feeds a growing concern nationally about the independence of state high courts.
by Megan O’Matz,
ProPublica Updates Supreme Connections Database With Previously Missing Disclosures
We’ve added more information about the Supreme Court justices’ finances, including newly uncovered filings from Clarence Thomas from the 1990s and Samuel Alito’s latest disclosure.
by Sergio Hernández,
North Carolina Supreme Court Candidate Wants Military Absentee Votes Tossed. Years Earlier, That’s How He Voted.
Republican Jefferson Griffin is trying to overturn his election loss by asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to toss 5,500 military and overseas absentee ballots. He used the same method to vote in 2019 and 2020.
by Doug Bock Clark,
The Neverending Case: How 10 Years of Delays Have Prevented a “Horrendous” Sexual Assault Allegation From Going to Trial
Four different judges have agreed to delay the trial more than 70 times in total. We pieced together a timeline of the delays using audio recordings and logs from every hearing.
by Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News; Graphics by Lucas Waldron and Zisiga Mukulu, ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network
North Carolina Supreme Court Blocked Certification of a Justice’s Win. Activists Fear It’s “Dangerous for Democracy.”
The move gives the court time to consider a challenge by Republican Jefferson Griffin, who has cited debunked legal theories in his previous failed attempts to block Justice Allison Riggs’ reelection.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Most Read
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Is Outsourcing More of His Office’s Work to Costly Private Lawyers
Despite having an office of hundreds of attorneys, Ken Paxton is frequently opting for private lawyers — many to whom he has personal or political ties — to argue on behalf of Texas. One attorney cost taxpayers more than $24,000 for a day’s work.
“Under the Microscope”: Activists Opposing a Nevada Lithium Mine Were Surveilled for Years, Records Show
Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have collaborated with private security to surveil largely peaceful protesters opposed to the Thacker Pass mine, according to a ProPublica review of thousands of pages of law enforcement communications.
by Mark Olalde,
Four Years After Cop Was Filmed Slamming Black Woman to the Ground, Louisiana Passes Accountability Law
Despite being caught in a 2021 video ripping out Shantel Arnold’s hair, sheriff’s Deputy Julio Alvarado failed to report the incident. A new law authored by Arnold’s attorney will mandate excessive-force reporting for all law enforcement agencies.
by Richard A. Webster, Verite News,
Local Reporting Network
The Forest Service Claims It’s Fully Staffed for a Worsening Fire Season. Data Shows Thousands of Unfilled Jobs.
DOGE cuts and voluntary resignations have severely hampered the agency as the nation enters the peak of fire season, with more than 1 million acres burning across 10 Western states.
by Abe Streep,
A Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Chinese Hackers
The Pentagon bans foreign citizens from accessing highly sensitive data, but Microsoft bypasses this by using engineers in China and elsewhere to remotely instruct American “escorts” who may lack expertise to identify malicious code.
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