The commissions that filed as salary
Reporting says Chief Justice John Roberts's wife earned millions in recruiting commissions from law firms. His disclosures listed the income only as salary.
· U.S. Wealth Watcher
Jane Sullivan Roberts, a legal recruiter and the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts, spent years placing lawyers at law firms for a company called Major, Lindsey and Africa. The New York Times first reported that a former colleague there had filed a whistleblower complaint about her work.[3] Politico later reported the complaint's core claim: that she earned millions of dollars in commissions over about eight years, some of it from firms with cases before the federal courts.[2]
Chief Justice Roberts's own financial disclosures listed his wife's income only as "salary," not commissions.[1] Federal judges must report where a spouse's income comes from, but not the exact amount. A Pace University law professor who reviewed the complaint called the "salary" label incorrect as a matter of law.[4]
We are not alleging anything illegal. Spousal income is normal and legal, and the disclosure rules leave room for how it gets described. What the complaint adds up to is narrower than a scandal: a household working in the same legal industry the Chief Justice's court oversees, earning money the public could not see in detail.
We report from public records and published reporting. Appearing here is not an allegation of wrongdoing.