One of my proposals for bilateral judicial reform would be to cap advances on book royalties for the Justices. I've written at length about the $1.2 million book advance for Justice Barrett in 2021 (here, here, and here). Now, the annual disclosures reveal the book deals for other Justices in 2023.
Yesterday, Axios reported that Justice Kavanaugh is writing a memoir. This was a well-timed scoop, given that today, Kavanaugh disclosed that his advance is $340,000. About a third of what ACB earned. Yikes. But still more than the other Trump nominee. Justice Gorsuch received an advance of $250,000 for his latest book with Janie Nitze, Over Ruled.
Justice Jackson, whose book deal was announced a few months ago, disclosed an advance of $893,750. I don't know if this is the full amount, or part of the advance. In any event, still a drop from Barrett peak in 2021. Maybe the market dried up for books about Justices?
