By Jesse J. Holland
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor revealed Wednesday that she is still getting gifts more than two years after her confirmation as the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice, including a $6,000 "translucent composite print" of important places and things from her life that will soon go on display at a Smithsonian Institution gallery in Washington.
Sotomayor, confirmed to the court in 2009, revealed in her financial disclosure form she got "gifts of books, art, jewelry and trinkets" from many people in 2011, all of which were less than the $335 amount required to individually disclose. She did disclose gifts of $1,400 in fine china and the $6,000 digital "artist's print" from artist Robert Weingarten
Sotomayor chose the images that the Brooklyn-born Weingarten used in the print, which includes the Supreme Court and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. A copy of the print will be displayed in the artist's upcoming show at the Smithsonian Institution's S. Dillon Ripley Center starting in July.
Seven other justices also released their financial disclosure forms on Wednesday, which showed a not-very lucrative year for book royalties for the court. Only two justices reported any of that type of income at all, with Justice Stephen Breyer reporting around $47,000 in book royalties and Justice Antonin Scalia $18,755. Scalia's amount will increase for next year's report, however, with his spring publication of "Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Text" with author Bryan A. Garner. Sotomayor is also working on a book of her own, which has not been published yet.
Several justices collected salaries from teaching gigs outside of the courtroom.
Justice Anthony Kennedy got $26,500 from the University of the Pacific and California Western Law School, while Kagan got $15,000 from Harvard College. Justices Clarence Thomas and Scalia both reported around $27,000 in teaching salaries, with Thomas's coming from Creighton University, George Washington University and the University of Georgia (and a $2,000 donation to charity in lieu of an honorarium from Grove City College) and Scalia's coming from Duke, Duquesne, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Rochester and St. Thomas University.
Chief Justice John Roberts' $15,000 came from Pennsylvania State University.
Justice Samuel Alito did not release his disclosure form, asking instead for an extension until August.
Published: Fri, Jun 22, 2012
