Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's bestselling memoir about growing up in poverty has earned her more than $3 million, including $1.9 million in advances on royalties she received last year.
In her 2012 financial disclosure form released Friday, Sotomayor indicated she received $1 million in April, 2012 and $925,000 in December from the Knopf Doubleday Group, publishers of My Beloved World, which debuted in January of this year. Earlier, she had reported receiving a $1.2 million advance in 2010. She also listed more than $3,000 in reimbursements for book promotion expenses from the publisher in 2012.
The book, published in English and Spanish, has been on bestseller lists on and off since it came out. With numerous media and personal appearances nationwide, she has become a public personality like no other justice in recent years. In a recent speech, Sotomayor said the publicity surrounding the book as well as the scrutiny she receives as a justice have changed her views about freedom, and given her new appreciation of the importance of privacy.
Like other justices, Sotomayor also reported numerous reimbursed trips for speaking engagements before bar and law school audiences. In a footnote to her form, she felt compelled to explain why she was in both Guam and Hawaii on the same day last December: "due to the impact of crossing the international dateline."
Justice Stephen Breyer reported more modest royalties of $29,980 from Random House for his 2011 book Making Our Democracy Work. Similarly, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor received under $1,600 from Random House for royalties on her previous books. For his part, retired Justice John Paul Stevens reported $14,000 in payments for book reviews he penned for the New York Review of Books in 2012.
Justices are also required to list gifts they received that are valued at more than $350. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg received a $2,500 gift bag from Glamour Magazine as a Woman of the Year, while Justice Antonin Scalia reported the gift of a shotgun worth $1,000 from the National Wild Turkey Federation.
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