Supreme Court justices disclose book advances, including nearly $900,000 for Jackson

The Supreme Court justices reported Friday that they are receiving big-money advances for writing books about themselves or the law, often shortly after arriving at the court. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reported she received an $893,750 advance last year for a memoir she plans to write called “Lovely One.” Her publisher said the book will be out later this year and tells of “her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation.” Jackson also reported receiving four concert tickets valued at $3,700 from Beyoncé. Justice Sonia Sotomayor has earned about $4 million in advances and royalties for several books, including “My Beloved World,” a memoir she agreed to write a year after joining the court in 2009. In this year’s disclosure report, Sotomayor said she had received $86,000 in book royalties as well as $1,879 for doing a voiceover on the children’s TV show “Alma’s Way.” The justices, who earn $298,500 a year in salary, are limited in how much they can earn in outside income, such as through teaching, but there is no limit on how much they can earn through writing books. The trend of justices writing memoirs may be traced to 2002, when Justice Sandra Day O’Connor published “Lazy B,” which recounted her growing up on her family’s cattle ranch in Arizona.