Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito disclosed on Friday that he accepted $900 worth of concert tickets gifted by a German princess.
The tickets given to Alito by socialite Gloria von Thurn und Taxis were disclosed in an annual financial form that all justices must complete. The other justices filed their financial disclosures in June, but Alito received an extension.
Alito also reported some stock sales—including between $1,000 and $15,000 of Anheuser Busch, which owns Bud Light, stock sold in August 2023—and a 2015 loan from financial service company Edward D. Jones that was originally worth between $250,000 and $500,000 but has now been mostly paid off.
Alito did not report any outside income from teaching or book contracts. Meanwhile, several justices reported six-figure payments from book deals in their financial disclosures.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also disclosed concert tickets in her annual form. Her tickets were gifted to her by singer Beyoncé and were worth over $3,700.
Even with these financial disclosures, it's hard to know each justice's net worth. All the associate justices made $298,500 this year and Chief Justice John Roberts earned $312,200. But justices don't have to report the value of their homes or, if they are married, the salaries of their spouses.
Both Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas have recently been under fire over ethical concerns stemming from undisclosed gifts and perceived biases in cases involving former President Donald Trump and attempts to overturn the 2020 election, which both justices have not recused themselves from.
ProPublica reported last year that Alito took a luxury fishing trip paid for by two wealthy Republican donors in 2008. But Alito said he was not required to disclose the trip under a previous exemption for personal hospitality.
More recently, Alito declined to recuse himself from cases involving the attempted overturn of the 2020 election following reports that an upside-down American flag was flying outside his Alexandria, Virginia, home in the days before President Joe Biden was inaugurated and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag was flown at his vacation home in New Jersey last summer.
Alito said that it was his wife's decision to fly the flags and that he had nothing to do with it, and he wrote in a letter in late May that said the two flag incidents "do not meet the conditions for recusal," citing the Court's current code of conduct.
Meanwhile, Thomas belatedly acknowledged two 2019 trips that were gifted to him by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow in this year's financial disclosure. The trips were first reported by ProPublica last year.
Thomas previously defended himself in a statement, saying that gifts he reportedly received from Crow were "not reportable," that he had sought out "guidance" before accepting them, and that he "always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines."
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, filed articles of impeachment against Thomas and Alito in July over these ethical concerns. However, it is almost certain to fail in the Republican-controlled House.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has pushed for a new enforceable code of conduct that would require justices to disclose gifts, not publicly participate in political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have a conflict of interest.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
Update 9/6/24, 6:27 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
Correction 9/7/24, 10:48 a.m. ET: This article has been corrected to reflect that Ocasio-Cortez filed impeachment articles in July, not June.
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