WASHINGTON — The nine Supreme Court justices in total are worth at least $24 million. Or it might be closer to $68 million.
It’s impossible to get more specific than that. That’s because federal ethics laws require justices to disclose only those assets that might pose a conflict of interest. As a result, the public can only assess part of each justice’s holdings, valued in a broad range.
But the most recent numbers, which come from the justices’ 2021 financial disclosures released last year and analyzed by Bloomberg News, show that at least six of the Supreme Court justices are multimillionaires. That means the judges, appointed to make decisions affecting millions of Americans, are significantly richer than around 90% of them.
In the wake of recent ProPublica reports exposing Justice Clarence Thomas’ close relationship with a GOP megadonor, Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocates have ramped up scrutiny of the Supreme Court’s ethics rules. Democrats have reintroduced bills to set new ethical standards for the Supreme Court, called for hearings into the court’s recent conduct and asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify. Republicans point out that the donor, Texas real estate investor Harlan Crow, hasn’t been involved in any case that reached the Supreme Court.