Four Justices, One Mega-Publisher, and a Supreme Court Copyright Debacle (Guest Blog Post)

by Prof. Guy Rub, Temple University Beasley School of Law What do Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson do for a living? The obvious answer is that they are Associate Justices of the United States Supreme Court. That is presumably how they spend most of their working hours. But if we look at their income rather than their job descriptions, the answer becomes less obvious. In 2025, an Associate Justice earned an annual salary of $303,600. That same year, Justice Jackson received approximately $1.2 million for writing her memoir, while Justice Barrett received nearly $850,000 for hers. Justice Neil Gorsuch earned approximately $300,000 from books, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, although earning considerably less that year, has collected more than $4 million in book advances and royalties during her time on the Court. By the end of 2025, Jackson’s cumulative book earnings for her memoir have surpassed $4 million. Collectively, the Justices have earned more than $13 million from books…