Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson revealed that in 2024, she received over $2 million from Penguin Random House for her memoir, “Lovely One: A Memoir.” According to her financial disclosure report, the publisher provided her with a book advance totaling $2,068,750 that year, along with refunds for travel, meals, and accommodation related to her promotional events across the country.
“Lovely One,” which signifies her West African birth name, was released in early September and is described on Amazon as chronicling her family’s rise within the American Supreme Court over one generation.
Her book tour included stops in major cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, and Atlanta.
This isn’t the first substantial payment from Penguin Random House; a previous disclosure indicated a payment of $893,750 in 2023.
Recently, the Supreme Court instituted a formal ethics code regarding the acceptance of free travel and gifts, though there are no existing limits on the financial benefits judiciary members can receive from such agreements.
In a related note, just last month, Justices Barrett, Jackson, Gorsuch, and Sotomayor recused themselves from deciding on a case tied to the parent company of Penguin Random House. Reports suggest that this move was likely due to the involvement of Bertelsmann, the German company that owns the publisher.
