WASHINGTON — For decades, the University of Hawaii law school marketed its jurist-in-residence program to the Supreme Court as an all-expenses-paid getaway with considerable "down time" in paradise.
Justices enthusiastically participated.
"Your colleagues who were here most recently were Justices (Ruth Bader) Ginsburg, (Anthony) Kennedy, and (Stephen) Breyer, and I believe they all would recommend the experience highly," the law school's then-Dean Aviam Soifer wrote in a 2010 email trying to draw Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the school in Honolulu. "We will, of course, cover first-class airfare, excellent hotel accommodations, and all other travel expenses."
Teaching is encouraged as a way to demystify the nation's highest court while exposing the justices to a cross-section of the public. For decades, they traveled the globe during court recesses to lecture. It is a permissible practice so long as their earning are less than the court's roughly $30,000 cap on outside income.
People are also reading…
Responding to questions, the Supreme Court noted that cap and added "teaching must be at an accredited educational institution or continuing legal educational program and must be approved in advance by the Chief Justice (or by the Associate Justices if it involves teaching by the Chief Justice)."
Documents The Associated Press obtained through public records requests reveal that some all-expenses-paid trips are light on classroom instruction, with ample time for the justices' leisure.
"This is a level of luxury that most Americans will never see. And the fact that the justices are receiving it by virtue of their positions seems to be outside ethical bounds," said Gabe Roth, the executive director of Fix the Court, a nonpartisan watchdog group.
These trips, which would cost the justices thousands of dollars if paid out of pocket, are in some cases subsidized by anonymous donors to the schools whose motivations can be difficult to assess.
While locking in details before Justice Samuel Alito's 2011 visit to Honolulu, University of Hawaii law school official Cyndi Quinn promoted the program's flexibility.
"We would like to propose a schedule that suits his preference (eg. time of day to start, other activities such as golf, snorkeling, hiking, cano(e) paddling, etc.) as well as activities and visits Mrs. Alito would prefer," she wrote to Alito's staff. "What I do recall is that Justice Alito would prefer starting his day after 10 am and leave some 'down time' for some much needed, no doubt, rest and relaxation?"
Besides Ginsburg, Kennedy, Alito and Breyer, Antonin Scalia and Sotomayor are the other justices who served on the court in the last decade and who participated in the program, which the law firm Case Lombardi helps sponsor.
Emails and other records provided by the school show the justices often taught a handful of classes, then — except for Sotomayor — met with local dignitaries and frequently dined at private clubs or the private residences of prominent school donors. Sotomayor's staff was adamant that she thought it inappropriate to be mingling with donors.
After being seated on the Supreme Court, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined the faculty of the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University in Virginia.
As required, they both reported their teaching contracts and compensation, which climbed to about $25,000 a year, but they were not a regular presence at the school's Arlington campus.
Instead, they were sent to Italy, Iceland and England, according to emails and other documents, which show the public university also paid the justices' travel and living expenses there.
Under the arrangement, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, nominated to the court by President Donald Trump, each taught a roughly two-week-long summer course that largely limited hours of instruction, leaving them and their families ample leisure time.
Their contracts coincided with a significant expansion of the law school made possible through tens of millions of dollars in contributions from conservative donors, some of whom gave anonymously through George Mason's foundation.
Since joining the faculty in 2018, Gorsuch taught in Padua, Italy, where George Mason officials paid for his airfare, which cost $8,313 in 2022, and an apartment that cost $5,359 to rent, records show. Side trips the school paid for included trips to Bologna and Venice.
In 2021, Gorsuch taught his course in Reykjavik, Iceland, where Justice Elena Kagan, nominated by President Barack Obama, joined him. Though Kagan taught for one day, the school covered the cost of her travel and lodging for her nearly weeklong stay.
Kavanaugh taught outside London in 2019 records show. Documents detailing the cost of the trip were not included in records provided by the school, many of which were redacted. After teaching from a western Pennsylvania resort during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Kavanaugh taught a short summer course at the school's Virginia campus in 2021, followed by a three-day course there in 2022, which paid $16,895, records show.
This year, Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, another Trump nominee, co-taught weeklong classes abroad through the University of Notre Dame's London Law Program.
