Money and Democracy

Published — July 2, 2018 Updated — September 3, 2018 at 10:09 pm ET

The financial disclosures for Trump’s possible Supreme Court nominees

The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Shutterstock

The Center for Public Integrity is tracking the disclosure forms for potential nominees to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy

Introduction

Update, 9:03 p.m., July 9, 2018: President Donald Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge on the D.C. circuit, to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Read Kavanaugh’s 2017, 2016 and 2012 personal financial disclosures.

The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has given President Donald Trump an unprecedented opportunity to sway the high court for decades, as Kennedy has often served as the panel’s crucial swing vote on a plethora of issues.

Few governmental parlor games obsess official Washington more than trying to determine the identity of an upcoming Supreme Court nominee, and the frenzy of speculation in the corridors of power over the past week has proven that this go-round will be no exception.

Trump has said he would announce his nominee on July 9 and has reportedly been busy reading the writings and background material of some of the prospective candidates. The Center for Public Integrity has been busy as well, aggressively working to obtain the financial disclosure forms of the mostly state and federal judges who are rumored to be in the running.

Trump said he was working from a list of 25 conservative nominees the White House released last November, and the Center has requested disclosures for all of them. But the wheels of disclosure grind slowly, so not all the forms have yet been made available. And there have since been stories and rumors saying the list has been narrowed further, or that the president is focusing on this judge or that.

But speculation on Supreme Court nominees has often proved short-sighted, so the Center decided to post the disclosures that it has obtained so far, either by our own staff, or in a couple cases, by Fix the Court, an advocacy group arguing that the court needs to be “more open and honest.”

The disclosures can be searched by name. In some cases, there are multiple disclosures per nominee. As more disclosures come in, the Center will add them to the inventory here.

The disclosures can be searched by name. In some cases, there are multiple disclosures per nominee. As more disclosures come in, the Center will add them to the inventory here.

Read more in Money and Democracy

Share this article

Join the conversation

Show Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments