Thomas Tops Earners Among Court Authors [US Supreme Court]

By Gina Holland
Associated Press
Times Leader
June 5, 2004

WASHINGTON - Three Supreme Court justices earned money on the side last year by writing more than legal opinions. The memoirs of Clarence Thomas brought by far the biggest payday.

Financial reports released Friday showed that Thomas received a $500,000 advance, an amount that dwarfs the literary earnings of other justices. The advance also is more than 2 1/2 times the justice's annual salary of $194,000.

Each year the members of the Supreme Court, like other top elected and appointed federal officials, must report their assets, including gifts and earnings, and some details of reimbursements they receive for travel. But their exact net worth is unclear because they report the value of income and assets with broad dollar ranges.

The new reports cover 2003 and showed at least five of the nine justices are millionaires: Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O'Connor, David H. Souter and John Paul Stevens.

Thomas, who has been among the least wealthy of the justices, hit pay dirt last year when his autobiography prompted a bidding war among publishers. The book, expected next year, will cover his childhood in segregated Georgia and the bitter 1991 fight over his confirmation.

Not counting the book advance, Thomas trailed all but one colleague with reported assets of less than $410,000.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, author of a new history of the disputed presidential election of 1876, received a $25,000 book advance and more than $10,000 in royalties, according to his report. O'Connor, who has written two books in the past two years, received about $10,000.

O'Connor also was reimbursed for 18 trips, to such locations as Serbia-Montenegro and Bahrain. Her reported travel was topped only by Antonin Scalia's 20 trips.

Part of Scalia's travel stemmed from teaching jobs that earned him an extra $23,000, in spots like Nice, France, and Oxford, Miss. He also participated in "Seminars in Christian Leadership" at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and spoke in Philadelphia to the Urban Family Council, a group founded by an opponent of same-sex marriages.

By contrast, the court's most reclusive member - Souter - reported no trips, gifts or extra income. And Stevens was reimbursed for just one trip, to his hometown of Chicago, for a speech.

Because they only cover 2003, the reports do not include information about two recent trips that have generated controversy: Scalia's January hunting trip with Vice President Dick Cheney to Louisiana, and Rehnquist's trip to Ohio in May on a corporate jet owned by a utility company, to attend a legal function. The Ohio Supreme Court was reimbursing American Electric Power for the trip.

The reports also include no specific information about the costs of airfare, food and hotels.

Steven Lubet, an ethics expert at Northwestern University, said more detailed information should be required of all judges, including the nine justices.

"When you're talking about people who make monumental decisions that are essentially unreviewable ... public confidence is enhanced by broad disclosure," he said Friday.

The financial holdings that justices and other officials report also do not include their homes and some other accounts.

A bank merger made Souter one of the wealthiest. He listed bank holdings and stocks worth between $5.2 million and $25.5 million in 2003, compared to between $1 million and $5.4 million in 2002.

Ginsburg, in years past the wealthiest justice by far, had assets including real estate trusts worth between $5.6 million and $23.4 million. Breyer showed investments and holdings worth between more than $4 million and about $15 million.

O'Connor listed holdings worth between $2.9 million and about $6 million, and Stevens cited holdings worth between $1.6 million and $3.4 million.

Scalia's retirement accounts and stock holdings were worth between $710,000 and $1.3 million, and Rehnquist's holdings were between $530,000 and $1.2 million.

Rounding out the nine were Thomas, with listed assets between $210,000 to $410,000; and Anthony M. Kennedy with bank accounts and life insurance policies worth between $75,000 and $180,000.