By law, judges are allowed to earn outside income from a limited number of sources: book advances and royalties, investments, and education. The judicial code of conduct emphatically encourages education. Many judges have increased their government salaries, which now hover below $300,000, by teaching at schools like Harvard, Duke and Notre Dame.
But Scalia Law quickly moved into first place, in part by offering generous benefits. For teaching summer classes that generally lasted up to two weeks, Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh each earned a salary approaching the legal limit on certain outside earnings, about $30,000 in recent years.
The school also creates tailor-made programs for judges in remote locations. Justice Gorsuch has traveled to Iceland and Italy to teach; Justice Kavanaugh has taught in Britain. During the first pandemic summer, both judges continued their classes and taught at resorts across the United States. (Only Judge Thomas has routinely held his classes on campus, with two of his former clerks serving as co-professors.)
“When there is a court with us, we do everything we can to bring the court to our students,” law school dean Ken Randall said in a statement. He added, “Law schools serve students, and their education is undoubtedly enhanced by the judges teaching or visiting or speaking to students.”
Sometimes the judges’ teachings crossed with their positions in court.
Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Thomas regularly used employees in their chambers to coordinate their outside academic duties, despite a court advisory – which the justices say they follow voluntarily – that staffers should not assist “in conducting activities for which additional compensation must be paid”. received.”
