Amy Coney Barrett Net Worth: How Supreme Court Justice Made Millions

Amy Coney Barrett speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in October, 2020.

Amy Coney Barrett, the youngest justice to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, is worth an estimated $4 million, made up of property, investments and major savings, a Forbes analysis shows.

The 52-year-old was nominated by then-President Donald Trump in 2020 and currently earns a salary of about $298,500 as of January, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

Barrett, born in New Orleans, grew up as the eldest of seven children whose mother was a teacher and father a qualified lawyer who worked for the oil company Shell while also serving as an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church.

She studied English at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, then decided to change to law before moving to Notre Dame Law School.

Barrett clerked for several high-profile figures, including Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, before she tried her hand at a private firm in Washington, D.C. She was there for less than four years before she took a teaching post at George Washington University in 2001.

Just one year later, Barrett became a professor at Notre Dame, where she earned about $210,000 annually for the more than 10 years she was there. During that time, she met and married Jesse Barrett, who, at different times, worked as a clerk and an assistant U.S. attorney and eventually founded a white-collar defense practice.

Much of their money was held up in brokerage and college-savings accounts for their seven children. By 2017, they had $1.6 million in investment, retirement and college-savings accounts and had a net worth of $1.9 million.

When Trump appointed Barrett to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that year, her salary was bumped up slightly to 220,600. She, along with her husband, continued to occasionally teach at Notre Dame.

Three years later, Barrett was nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court, after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, and her salary went up to $265,60—what associates earned at the time.

The couple owns a $2.2 million Virginia home, which they still owe about $1.3 million on, and they have a federal retirement account worth $450,000. The justice is set to publish a book, after reportedly signing a $2 million book deal with Penguin Random House, which will bring in much more money.

For comparison, Justice Samuel Alito, who recently made headlines for multiple controversies, is worth $10 million. He is the second-richest justice, beaten only by Chief Justice John Roberts, who has a net worth of $25 million.

Clarence Thomas is worth $4 million, Brett Kavanaugh $2 million, Sonia Sotomayor $5 million, Elena Kagan $4 million, Neil Gorsuch $8 million and Ketanji Brown Jackson $2 million, according to the analysis.

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