A deeper dive into the finances of Indiana Supreme Court justices

(FOX59/CBS4) — A review of financial disclosure statements filed by the justices of the Indiana Supreme Court led to the discovery that Chief Justice Loretta Rush originally under-reported her outside income in 2022.

Each January, a wide array of officeholders must fill out a financial disclosure form. This applies to officials elected to statewide office, state lawmakers, local prosecutors and all judges, whether full-time or part-time.

The form is called a “Statement of Economic Interest,” or SEI. An SEI requires disclosure of things like gifts greater than $100 in value, investments valued at more than $10,000, a spouse’s employer, businesses owned and outside income.

FOX59/CBS4 obtained SEIs for the Indiana Supreme Court justices and all the judges on the state Court of Appeals.

(L to R: Justice Christopher Goff, Justice Mark Massa, Chief Justice Loretta Rush, Justice Derek Molter, Justice Geoffrey Slaughter)

When reviewing the disclosures for the justices on the state’s highest court, we found some interesting things.

For example, Justice Geoffrey Slaughter’s wife, Julie, works as a City Prosecutor in the Indianapolis Corporation Counsel’s Office.

Justice Derek Molter is a member of the board of directors of the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society.

We also learned Justice Mark Massa is quite the baseball fan. His disclosure lists he’s a board member for “Indians, Inc.”, the corporate name for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians baseball team.

The SEI for Justice Christopher Goff got our attention when we found in the section for disclosing gifts the notation, “Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness, $20,500.”

This is not the Biden administration’s proposed student loan forgiveness program currently tied up in the federal courts. Goff benefitted from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which expired in October.

PSLF provides up to $20,000 in student loan relief to those who do two things for 10 years: work in public service and make monthly payments.

A spokesperson for the Indiana Supreme Court explained:

“Justice Goff attended law school through the fall of 1996. He borrowed approximately $60,000. After his admission to the bar in 1997 he began making monthly payments of $316. He estimates repaying over $70,000 over the next 20-plus years. Having worked in public service for at least ten years and having made regular payments, he applied for and was approved for the remaining balance of approximately $20,000 to be forgiven.”

Goff applied for the debt relief in January of last year and received word that his loan was forgiven last summer.

There was a disclosure on Chief Justice Loretta Rush’s SEI that prompted questions.

Under outside income, the Chief Justice listed she has received $13,000 for teaching at Purdue University.

However, according to Rush’s income on Indiana Gateway, an online resource offering salary information for all of Indiana’s public employees, her Purdue pay for last year was $24,433.93.

When FOX59/CBS4 inquired why there are two different income numbers, we were told: “You have identified an omission.”

Click here to read SEIs for Indiana Supreme Court, Court of Appeals justices

The Indiana Supreme Court spokesperson wrote in an email:

“Chief Justice Rush… normally only (has) one teaching job a year. Because of COVID, she took part in two separate teaching jobs (last year). She submitted her SEI on January 3rd prior to the W-2 and the oversight occurred.”

An updated SEI was submitted by Chief Justice Rush on May 5th. It lists her outside income as $24,433.93.

Here, you will find the disclosure statements for all the justices of the Indiana Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals judges. Additionally, a list of Supreme Court Justice salaries can be found below: