Gorsuch Joins Sotomayor as Supreme Court Children’s Author

Neil Gorsuch is authoring a children’s book celebrating some of the central figures in the American Revolution, in what will be the justice’s third book he’s published since joining the Supreme Court.

His debut children’s book, which was co-authored with his former law clerk Janie Nitze, follows in the footsteps of Sonia Sotomayor, the liberal justice who has authored five books geared toward young readers that have produced a huge audience and millions in earnings.

“Heroes of 1776,” set to publish a couple months before the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is intended to share the stories of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as the “ordinary people who did extraordinary things,” Gorsuch said Thursday on Fox News.

“There are just so many of these incredible stories of courage and sacrifice by people, ordinary people,” said Gorsuch, whom President Donald Trump appointed to the court in 2017. “And I just wanted to inspire young people to think about doing great things like that themselves.”

Book publishing has proved to be a lucrative endeavor for the active justices, who earn roughly $300,000 a year in their official roles and are limited to $30,000 in outside income from work like teaching.

Gorsuch has earned more than $1.4 million in income from books since joining the court, which includes sales and book advances from his publisher HarperCollins LLC, according to annual financial disclosures.

His previous works include 2019’s “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” which laid out his vision of the courts’ proper role, and 2024’s “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law,” a treatise on the effects of an expanding US legal code.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court in 2020, reportedly signed a deal for $2 million for her book released in September, “Listening to the Law,” which she’s called an attempt to make the court’s processes more accessible to the public. Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s junior justice, reported making over $2 million off her memoir published last year.

Sotomayor, who joined the court in 2009,has previously said that her children’s books have rivaled the success of the memoir she published in 2014 that landed atop the New York Times’ bestseller list. Her latest,“Just Shine, How to Be a Better You,” was published in September.

“‘My Beloved World’ has sold very very well, and ‘Just Ask’ is not far behind,” Sotomayor said in an appearance at the University of Hawaii’s law school in 2024, referencing one of her other children’s books. “That’s unheard of in children’s books.”

Gorsuch, a member of the court’s conservative majority, said on Fox News that his book documents the experiences of lesser-known figures from the Founding, such as Emily Geiger and Caesar Rodney, and that he hopes it contributes to the teaching of US history.

“This is one thing my colleagues and I really agree on, is the importance of bringing civic education to our children,” Gorsuch said. “Most Americans cannot name the three branches of government. And if you ask me what the greatest danger America faces today is itself and we have to learn how to talk to one another. We need to know our shared history.”

“Heroes of 1776" will come out next year as will a book that Justice Samuel Alito is writing. Justice Brett Kavanaugh is also working on a legal memoir that Axios reported last yearis expected to be published by 2026.