Supreme Court Justice Sells Exxon Shares

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has sold off his stock in Exxon Mobil Corp. worth up to $250,000, according to Reuters.

In 2008, Justice Alito had to step away from a case involving Exxon, which led to a reduction of punitive damages to be paid by Exxon for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill off Alaska. When this case was in court, Alito owned Exxon stock worth more than $100,000.

According to Bloomberg, with Alito stepping down from the Exxon case, the court was evenly split.

On 24 March 1989, the tanker, Exxon Valdez, ran aground, spilling 240,000 barrels of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. The court decision reduced punitive damages to be paid by Exxon from $2.5 billion to around $500 million.

Judge Alito received the Exxon-Mobil stock as a bequest in May 2004, with the source of the bequest undisclosed, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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A recent report from the Center for Public Integrity said that at least six — and perhaps as many as all eight — U.S. Supreme Court justices are worth at least $1 million.

The center listed Stephen Breyer as worth at least $6.1 million but possibly as much as $16 million. Second on the list was Chief Justice John Roberts, with a net worth of at least $4.2 million, followed by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan worth more than $1 million.

By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

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