In Sotomayor and Gorsuch's case, the impropriety was discovered due to the diligent record-keeping of their earnings in their financial disclosures. Gorsuch and Sotomayor's decision not to recuse themselves from the two publishing cases has received fresh scrutiny after a series of reports from ProPublica revealed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted numerous lavish vacations and gifts from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.Ī key difference between the revelation about Gorsuch and Sotomayor compared with the recent news about Thomas, however, is the manner in which the news was collected.

Former Justice Stephen Breyer, who had reported receiving royalties from the publisher, recused himself from each of the cases.Īccording to Sotomayor's financial disclosures, as CNN reported, she's made approximately $3.6 million in royalties and advances for the several books she's published under Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, which is part of Penguin Random House.Īs for Gorsuch, his financial disclosures note he's made at least $655,000 from Penguin Random House over the past few years from his book, 'A Republic, If You Can Keep It.' Sotomayor and Gorsuch had both signed major book deals with the publisher before the cases occurred, and both justices declined to recuse themselves from the cases involving Penguin Random House. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed in 2017 and was also a member of the Supreme Court during the second case. Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was confirmed in 2009, was on the high court during both cases, which occurred in 20-2020. In both situations, the Supreme Court declined to take on the copyright infringement cases, allowing the publisher to win at a lower court level. There have been two cases that came before the Supreme Court involving publishing conglomerate Penguin Random House. Two Supreme Court justices did not recuse themselves from cases that arose before the court involving their book publisher, Penguin Random House, according to a recent CNN report.

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Book while justice sleeps