One of my recommendations for bilateral judicial reform is to limit the amount of book royalties that judges receive in advance. I’ve written at length about Judge Barrett’s $1.2 million advance in 2021 ( here , here , and here ). Now, the annual disclosure reveals the book deals of other judges in 2023.
Yesterday, Axios reported that Judge Kavanaugh was writing a memoir. This is very timely news given that Kavanaugh revealed today that his advance was $340,000. That’s about one-third of ACB’s revenue. oops. But it’s still more than other Trump nominees. Judge Gorsuch gets $250,000 advance for latest book with Janie Nitze over-dominated.
Justice Jackson, who announced his book deal a few months ago, revealed the advance was $893,750. I don’t know if this is the full amount or part of the advance payment. Regardless, it’s still down from the 2021 Barrett peak.
Regardless, Justice Jackson got a free ticket from Beyoncé, but Justice Kavanaugh had to pay for his own Taylor Swift ticket.
Gorsuch received several hundred dollars in annual royalties from Princeton University Press for his 2006 book on assisted suicide and euthanasia. But as far as I know, Gorsuch did not receive any royalties from his first book, republic, Over $250,000 down payment. All future royalties may be distributed to his co-authors. Or, I think more likely, he hasn’t earned back the $250,000 advance from 2021. There’s no way to make that money back. People and groups are less likely to buy his older books when new ones come out.
as i was bilateral judicial reform, I doubt these justices will be able to recoup these huge advances. These are interest-free loans that are fully valid according to the rules.
There have been many headlines about Justice Thomas receiving expensive gifts. The implication is that he is profiting from his position. The same is true for judges who write books. These are not normal business decisions. The justices can recoup these advances only by hosting a number of events where groups feel at least some pressure to buy books. There are all kinds of conflicts out there. I think publishers are unlikely to get their advances back, but gaining some prestige by putting justice on their label helps other aspects of the business.
