Teaching gigs with plenty of free time

WASHINGTON — For decades, the University of Hawaii law school has marketed its Jurist-In-Residence program to the Supreme Court as an all-expensespaid getaway, with considerable “downtime” in paradise.

The justices have enthusiastically participated.

“Your colleagues ... 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 Honolulu. “We will, of course, cover first-class airfare, excellent hotel accommodations, and all other travel expenses.”

Teaching is encouraged to demystify the nation’s highest court while exposing the justices to a cross-section of the public. For decades, they have traveled the globe during court recesses to lecture. It is a permissible practice so long their earnings are less than the court’s $30,000 cap on outside income.

In a statement, the Supreme Court noted the $30,000 figure and added that “teaching must be at an accredited educational institution or continuing legal educational program and must be approved in advance by the Chief Justice”

Documents obtained by the Associated Press reveal that some all-expenses-paid trips are light on classroom instruction, with ample time carved out 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.

The particulars of the excursions are often shrouded from public view because the justices are only required to offer a spare accounting on their annual financial disclosure forms.

But details obtained by the AP reveal that these trips are in some cases subsidized by anonymous donors to the schools whose motivations can be difficult to assess.