Justice Samuel Alito has released his long-delayed annual financial disclosure, confirming he retains significant investments in oil and gas companies.
The disclosure was originally due on May 15 but was not posted until late August, with Alito signing the filing on August 11, three weeks before it reached the public.
Federal judges are permitted to take up to 90 additional days beyond the standard deadline to submit their financial transparency filings, and Alito exercises that extension almost every year.
His eight Supreme Court colleagues filed their disclosures on time, with the Administrative Office posting their forms on June 29, covering everything from Bad Bunny tickets to seven-figure book advances.
The delayed filing takes on particular significance because on October 5, the first argument day of the new term, the Court will hear Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County.
That case will see the oil and gas industry ask the Supreme Court to prevent local governments from suing polluters over climate-related damage, placing Alito’s investment portfolio under direct scrutiny.
Since May, watchdog groups have been calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to examine why Alito has not recused himself, given that he is the only justice known to hold oil and gas stock directly.
The new filing confirms he has not divested any of those holdings, with ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, AES, BHP Billiton, Black Hills, OGE Energy, and Woodside Energy all recorded at the same value ranges as the prior year, with no sales noted.
Alito also holds a mineral interest in Grady County, Oklahoma, valued at between $100,001 and $250,000, according to the disclosure covering calendar year 2025.
The report is the final financial disclosure the public will see before the Supreme Court hears the climate case in October, giving watchdog groups little time to press for action.
Alito recused himself from the 2023 cert petition in this same case and again from a 2025 petition raising the same legal question, yet voted to grant cert in 2026 while retaining the same portfolio.
Watchdog groups have stated clearly that “as these parallel state climate deception cases are undeniably interlinked, and due to Justice Alito’s vested interests in the oil and gas industry, the only ethical option for Justice Alito is a blanket recusal from participating in any one of them.”
The timing of the release, arriving weeks before oral arguments while allowing some news cycle distance, has drawn pointed commentary from legal observers watching the case closely.