- In an April 22, 2026, Substack post, independent journalist Christopher Armitage alleged that John Roberts, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and his wife, Jane Roberts, accepted more than $20 million from law firms that John Roberts ruled on.
- The allegation is partially based on a 2022 whistleblower report claiming that, while working as a recruiter at the firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, Jane Roberts made $10.3 million in commissions from elite law firms between 2007 and 2014.
- The Ethics in Government Act requires Supreme Court justices to disclose their yearly finances, including spousal income above $1,000. However, the law only requires disclosure of the source of spousal income, not the amount received.
- Armitage suggested that John Roberts and his wife earned a final total of more than $22 million from firms by estimating that Jane Roberts made $11.8 million in commission between 2015 and 2022, then adding it to the $10.3 million figure previously reported.
- The claim misleadingly suggests that both John and Jane Roberts were taking money from law firms. While some married couples do combine their finances, only Jane Roberts earned money, as part of her recruiting role.
- Given that there is no confirmable information about how much money Jane Roberts has earned from law firms with business before the Supreme Court, Snopes cannot rate this claim unless further details emerge.
On April 22, 2026, independent journalist Christopher Armitage published an article on his Substack, The Existentialist Republic, claiming that U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and his wife, Jane Roberts, had taken $20 million from law firms with business before the Supreme Court. Armitage said he was filing a motion for Roberts' disbarment from the Washington, D.C., bar over Roberts' alleged corruption.
The allegation spread on social media, where many expressed outrage at John Roberts' supposed behavior. Snopes readers searched the site hoping to find more information about the claim.
Under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, Supreme Court justices (and many other public officials) are required to disclose their personal finances on a yearly bases, including income earned by their spouses totaling more than $1,000. However, the law only requires officials to disclose the source of their spouse's income, not the amount.
As such, there is limited available information about how much Jane Roberts made in commission, meaning Snopes cannot rate the claim. In order to do so, we would need to view and authenticate financial documents or detailed disclosures of the Roberts' finances, then determine how much of that money came specifically from law firms that had business with the Supreme Court.
The claim frames both John and Jane Roberts as taking money from law firms. Many married couples do combine their finances, but it is worth noting that John Roberts was not taking commissions from law firms himself. Jane Roberts was the only one earning this money, as part of her role as a legal recruiter.
According to 2023 reporting from Business Insider, The New York Times and Politico, Jane Roberts switched careers from practicing law to legal recruiting once her husband took his seat on the Supreme Court bench. She took a position with the firm Major, Lindsey & Africa in 2007 and worked there as a recruiter until 2019, when she left for the firm Macrae's Washington, D.C., office, where she is currently a partner.
Armitage's total is partially based on a 2022 whistleblower report that Kendal B. Price, a former colleague of Jane Roberts at Major, Lindsey & Africa, filed. In the report, Price alleged that a colleague told him Jane Roberts was "the highest earning recruiter in the entire company 'by a wide margin.'" His complaint contained a spreadsheet alleging that Major, Lindsey & Africa brought in $13.3 million between 2007 and 2014, and that $10.3 million went to Jane Roberts in the form of commissions.
Price claimed that Jane Roberts helped at least one prominent government official, then-outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, land a position at WilmerHale, a law firm with a large Supreme Court presence. "I cannot rule out that more than one law firm that paid commissions to Ms. Roberts argued cases at the Supreme Court," he said.
Between 2007 and 2020, John Roberts' financial disclosures included spousal income from Major, Lindsey & Africa, all described as "attorney search consultants."
Between 2007 and 2014, then again in 2018 and 2019, John Roberts' disclosures described his wife's income from Major, Lindsey & Africa as a salary. In 2020, he called it "compensation." He provided no further specification between 2015 and 2017. Price claimed John Roberts' disclosure was improper, because Jane Roberts took commission based on her placements, not a salary.
Armitage arrived at the final $22 million figure by estimating that between 2015 and 2022, Jane Roberts made an additional $11.8 million in commission, arguing that the final sum was "likely substantially higher given Macrae's reported revenue growth during that period."
John Roberts' disclosures listed spousal income from Macrae between 2019 and 2025, again using the phrase "attorney search consultants." The disclosures described the income solely as a salary between 2019 and 2021, then as "recoverable base salary and commission" from 2022 to 2025.
A separate question is whether Jane Roberts' income from recruiting is legal or ethical. That depends on who you ask.
Armitage, and Price before him, claim that John Roberts should to recuse himself from cases involving firms his wife has placed clients at, citing federal law on the disqualification of judges, which include provisions saying that judges shall recuse themselves in situations where "he knows that he, individually or as a fiduciary, or his spouse or minor child residing in his household, has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court told The New York Times in 2023 that John Roberts had consulted the code of ethics on the situation and decided he did not need to recuse himself, citing a 2009 advisory opinion noting that "a judge whose spouse owned and operated a legal or executive recruitment business need not recuse merely because a law firm appearing before the judge engaged the judge's spouse, either currently or in the past."
Comments on Armitage's Substack post, and on social media posts spreading the claim, compared John Roberts' actions to those of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. ProPublica reported in 2023 that the two accepted vacations from Republican megadonors Harlan Crow and Paul Singer, respectively.
Sources:
"5 U.S. Code Chapter 131 Part IV - ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT." LII / Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/part-IV/chapter-131. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
"28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of Justice, Judge, or Magistrate Judge." LII / Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/455. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
Armitage, Christopher. "The Chief Justice and His Wife Took $20 Million From Firms He Rules On. I'm Filing for His Disbarment Today." Substack newsletter. The Existentialist Republic, 22 Apr. 2026, https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/the-chief-justice-and-his-wife-took.
Eder, Steve. "At the Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over a Spouse's Business Ties." The New York Times, 31 Jan. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/us/john-roberts-jane-sullivan-roberts.html.
Fuchs, Haley, and Josh Gerstein. "'They Come to Me': Jane Roberts' Legal Recruiting Work Involved Officials Whose Agencies Had Cases before the Supreme Court." Politico, 31 Jan. 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/31/jane-roberts-legal-recruiting-work-agencies-cases-supreme-court-00080515.
"Jane Sullivan Roberts - Legal Recruiter (Washington, D.C.)." Macrae, 20 Apr. 2026, https://www.macrae.com/jane-sullivan-roberts.
"Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court." ProPublica, 21 June 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court.
Ken Salazar. https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/people/ken-salazar. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
Media, A. L. M. "Jane Sullivan Roberts, Wife of Chief Justice, Opens DC Outpost for Recruiter MLegal." Yahoo Finance, 5 Mar. 2019, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jane-sullivan-roberts-wife-chief-090057716.html.
Mierjeski, Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex. "Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From Major GOP Donor." ProPublica, 6 Apr. 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow.
Schwartz, Mattathias. "Jane Roberts, Who Is Married to Chief Justice John Roberts, Made $10.3 Million in Commissions from Elite Law Firms, Whistleblower Documents Show." Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/jane-roberts-chief-justice-wife-10-million-commissions-2023-4. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
Simon, Sergio Hernandez, Alex Mierjeski, Al Shaw, Mollie. "Macrae — Supreme Connections: Search Supreme Court Disclosures." ProPublica, 21 Dec. 2023, https://projects.propublica.org/supreme-connections/organizations/macrae/.
———. "Major, Lindsey & Africa — Supreme Connections: Search Supreme Court Disclosures." ProPublica, 21 Dec. 2023, https://projects.propublica.org/supreme-connections/organizations/major-lindsey-africa/.
"We Don't Need Any New Ideas to Fix the Supreme Court. Just One Very Old One." MS NOW, 6 Feb. 2023, https://www.ms.now/opinion/msnbc-opinion/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts-wife-isnt-problem-rcna69103.
