@BumbleBeeBoogie,
In 2008, seven of the nine sitting justices were millionaires, and the remaining two were close to that level of wealth.[109] Historian Howard Zinn, in his 1980 book A People's History of the United States, argues that the justices cannot be neutral between the rich and the poor, as they are almost always from the upper class.[110] Chief Justice Roberts is the son of an executive with Bethlehem Steel; Justice Stevens was born into a wealthy Chicago family;[111] and Justices Kennedy and Breyer both had fathers who were successful attorneys. Justices Alito and Scalia both had educated (and education-minded) parents: Scalia's father was a highly-educated college professor and Alito's father was a high school teacher before becoming "a long-time employee of the New Jersey state legislature".[112] Only Justices Thomas and Sotomayor have been regarded as coming from a lower-class background. One authority states that "Thomas grew up in poverty. The Pin Point community he lived in lacked a sewage system and paved roads. Its inhabitants dwelled in destitution and earned but a few cents each day performing manual labor".[113] The depth of Thomas' poverty has been disputed by suggestions of "ample evidence to suggest that Thomas enjoyed, by and large, a middle-class upbringing".[114]
Financial disclosures
Beginning in 1979, the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 required federal officials, including the justices, to file annual disclosures of their income and assets.[115] These disclosures provide a snapshot into the wealth of the justices, reported within broad ranges, from year to year since 1979. In the first such set of disclosures, only two justices were revealed to be millionaires: Potter Stewart[116] and Lewis F. Powell,[117] with Chief Justice Warren Burger coming in third with about $600,000 in holdings.[116] The least wealthy Justice was Thurgood Marshall.[116]
The 1982 report disclosed that newly appointed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was a millionaire, and the second-wealthiest Justice on the Court (after Powell).[118] The remaining justices listed assets in the range of tens of thousands to a few hundred-thousand, with the exception of Thurgood Marshall, who "reported no assets or investment income of more than $100".[118] The 1985 report had the justices in relatively the same positions,[119] while the 1992 report had O'Connor as the wealthiest member of the Court, with Stevens being the only other millionaire, most other justices reporting assets averaging around a half million dollars, and the two newest justices, Clarence Thomas and David Souter, reporting assets of at least $65,000.[120]
The 2007 report was the first to reflect the holdings of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Disclosures for that year indicated that Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy were the only justices who were clearly not millionaires, although Thomas was reported to have signed a book deal worth over one million dollars.[121] Other justices reported holdings within the following ranges:[122]
Justice Lowest range Highest range
John Roberts $2,400,000 $6,200,000
John Paul Stevens $1,100,000 $3,500,000
Antonin Scalia $1,200,000 $2,800,000
Anthony Kennedy $365,000 $765,000
David Souter $5,000,000 $25,000,000
Clarence Thomas $150,000 $410,000
Ruth Bader Ginsburg $5,000,000 $25,000,000
Stephen Breyer $4,900,000 $16,800,000
Samuel Alito $770,000 $2,000,000
The financial disclosures indicate that many of the justices have substantial stock holdings.[121] This, in turn, has affected the business of the Court, as these holdings have led justices to recuse themselves from cases, occasionally with substantial impact. For example, in 2008, the recusal of John Roberts in one case, and Samuel Alito in another, resulted in each ending in a 4-4 split, which does not create a binding precedent.[123] The Court was unable to decide another case in 2008 because four of the nine justices had conflicts, three arising from stock ownership in affected companies.[124]