WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Samuel Alito reported Friday that he accepted $900 in concert tickets from a German princess but did not report any trips paid for by others, according to a new financial disclosure form.
The required annual disclosure, for which Alito has frequently requested an extension, does not include details about event tickets donated by German socialite Gloria von Thurn und Taxis. Alito has not reported any outside income from teaching contracts or books.
The financial disclosures filed by the Supreme Court justices come amid heightened scrutiny of ethics at the high court, amid criticism over undisclosed travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. The other eight justices filed their forms in June; Alito was granted an extension.
Justice Clarence Thomas, for example, belatedly acknowledged that more trips were paid for by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow in 2019, including a hotel room in Bali, Indonesia, and food and lodging at a private club in Sonoma County, California.
Alito, meanwhile, took a private plane trip to a luxury fishing lodge in Alaska in 2008, courtesy of two wealthy Republican donors, the nonprofit investigative news site ProPublica reported last year. Alito, for his part, has said he was not required to disclose that trip under a prior exemption for personal hospitality.
Alito also reported a handful of stock sales, including between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of Anheuser Busch stock sold in August 2023, as the stock price began to stabilize after a conservative boycott over a Budweiser promotion featuring a transgender influencer. Alito did not comment on the stock sale, which was first disclosed in May. He also noted that a 2015 loan from financial services firm Edward D. Jones, originally worth between $250,000 and $500,000, has now been largely repaid but was inadvertently omitted from some of his earlier reports.
Alito also came under scrutiny because of the flags flying outside homes he owned, which he said his wife put up.
Judges recently adopted a code of ethics, although it lacks any means of implementation. The code treats travel, food and lodging as expenses rather than gifts, the monetary value of which must be declared. Judges are not required to assign a value to expenses.
Some Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have pushed for a binding code of conduct and for investigations into alleged violations. Justice Elena Kagan has also supported an enforcement mechanism. But the prospect of such legislation is seen as unlikely in a closely divided Congress.
The annual disclosures paint a partial picture of judges’ finances because they are not required to disclose the value of their homes or, for those who are married, their spouses’ salaries.
Concert tickets were also revealed by another judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, this year. It was a gift from singer Beyoncé, worth more than $3,700. Several judges also reported six-figure payments to judges in connection with publishing deals.
In their day-to-day work, the justices are paid $298,500 this year, with the exception of Chief Justice John Roberts, who earns $312,200.
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