Last year, Amy Connie Barrett earned $425,000 in book and fee proceeds, the highest of any person on the Supreme Court.

Having a seat on the Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment, and it also seems to open a lot of doors in the publishing industry. Many judges have a good selection of side books of different genres, and the Associated Press reports that Judge Amy Connie Barrett earned $425,000 as part of a $2 million deal for her unpublished book, more than anyone else in court in a year 2021.

The numbers come from financial reports recently disclosed by the judges, and also include $250,000 in royalties from HarperCollins to Judge Neil Gorsuch, as well as for an unpublished book, and $115,000 in book equity for Judge Sonia Sotomayor (plus others) $5,125 for development rights for her children’s book Don’t Ask!) and $7,800 for retired judge Stephen Breyer.

In all, Supreme Court justices have earned about $800,000 in book and advances proceeds over the past year, which means Justice Barrett herself earned more than half of that total.

Lee Vogel Paul / Getty Images

Six-figure filings for publication isn’t something to sneeze at, but those kinds of numbers are particularly impressive compared to the actual Supreme Court salaries, which this year were $274,200, with Chief Justice John Roberts earning $286,700.

Prior to Justice Barrett’s $2 million advance, the two other largest publication advances for Supreme Court justices were given to Justices Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas—both of whom received more than $1 million each for their personal memos. Sotomayor has been a particularly prolific author during her time on the bench, revealing more than $3 million in advances and royalties over the course of her career. In 2019, Gorsuch reported earnings of $650,000 from his book, “A Republic, If You Can Keep It.”

As for Barrett, she is reported to be working on a book on the topic of separating personal feelings from legal decisions while in the nation’s highest court.



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