Published: Friday, June 7, 2013, 6:30p.m. Updated 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON Being a Supreme Court justice has been good for Sonia Sotomayor's legal career, and hasn't hurt her bank account.
The justice reported on Friday that she's received more than $3 million in advance payments for her best-selling memoir, My Beloved World.
Her annual financial disclosure forms show that Knopf Doubleday Group paid Sotomayor $1.925 million in 2012 in anticipation of her book. This comes in addition to the $1.2 million in advance payments she received from the publisher in 2010.
Her newfound wealth contrasted with her more austere lifestyle before joining the Supreme Court. In her first financial disclosure form, the 58-year-old justice, who is the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, reported she was making payments on thousands of dollars in dental bills and credit card bills, with bank accounts worth no more than $65,000.
But in just the past year or so, following the publication of her book, Sotomayor has reported having more than $1 million in a bank account and credit card debt of as much as $60,000 last year.
Meanwhile, Justice Antonin Scalia reported $63,991 in book royalties since the publication of his Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, which was co-authored with Bryan A. Garner. Justice Stephen Breyer also reported that he made more than $30,000 in royalties in 2012 for his previous books.
Several justices reported salaries from teaching work at colleges and universities. Chief Justice John Roberts got $20,000 for teaching a Supreme Court history course at the New England School of Law in Malta last summer. Clarence Thomas received $10,000 for teaching at George Washington University. Scalia got more than $26,000 for teaching at five schools.
Scalia also reported receiving a $1,000 shotgun from the National Wild Turkey Foundation as a gift.
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