Supreme Court Justices buy permanent life insurance?
Supreme Court Justices are the most unbiased individuals in the United States. After years of distinguished service, individuals are nominated by the President and confirmed by a majority of Congress to serve as a Supreme Court Justice for the remainder of their life or until they choose to retire. It would probably be accurate to describe the men and women who serve as Justices as dependable and intelligent. Would it surprise you to know that current and former Supreme Court Justices have bought permanent life insurance?
While Supreme Court Justices serve, they submit a personal financial disclosure of all their financial holdings and loans. Recent disclosures can be seen at publicintegrity.org. We cannot tell the amounts of the life insurance that Justices hold, however the company and product they have purchased are disclosed.
Former Justice Anthony Kennedy was nominated by President Ronald Regan in 1987. He was later confirmed by Congress and he took the oath of office on February 18, 1988 (SCOTUS, 2017). Besides between $500,000 to $1,000,000 in the bank, Justice Kennedy’s only financial asset listed on his 2015 disclosure was whole life insurance. He stated that he owns whole life insurance policies from John Hancock, Metropolitan and New England Life Insurance Companies. The John Hancock whole life policy is valued at between $50,001 to $100,000 and Metropolitan and New England whole life insurance policies are each valued between $15,001 and $50,000 (The Center for Public Integrity, 2016, May 11). We cannot tell the amount of the death benefit.
Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated by George H. W. Bush and was sworn into office on October 23, 1991 (SCOTUS, 2017). Like many other of the Justices, Justice Thomas has a diversified holding of financial assets. On Justice Thomas’ 2015 financial disclosure, he shows that he has two universal life insurance policies that were purchased from Mutual of New York better known as MONY. MONY is now known as AXA Life Insurance Company. The financial disclosure states the value of one policy at between $50,001 and $100,000. The second policy is stated at being between $100,001 and $250,000 (The Center for Public Integrity, 2016, May 15).
The late Justice Antonin Scalia was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as well. Justice Scalia served as Supreme Court Justice from September 26, 1986 until his recent death on February 13, 2016 (SCOTUS, 2016). Justice Scalia had many investment holdings listed on his 2014 financial disclosure, however he did not list life insurance as an asset. He listed a life insurance policy from North Western Mutual as a liability since he had taken a loan on that policy (The Center for Public Integrity, 2014, May 15). The disclosure does not show the type of life insurance as it did with Justice’s Kennedy and Thomas. However, it is a permanent life insurance policy since that is the only kind of life insurance that a policy holder can borrow.
There is no doubt that these men were and are some of the most brilliant minds in our nation. It would be logical to assume that since they hold positions that are both distinguished and open to the public that they put a great deal of thought into which investments and insurance that they purchased.
There are a lot of opinions on which life insurance is the best to buy. And there is no way to know if the Supreme Court Justices have also purchased term life insurance. A common-sense conclusion to make is that for some people, permanent life insurance is the right life insurance to buy.
So, the next time you hear one or more of the more popular financial guru’s blast the purchase of permanent life insurance and state that the only way to go is term life insurance, remember that in the personal opinion some Supreme Court Justices, they are wrong.
This article is not written with the intention to sway everyone to buy whole life or universal life insurance. Much more term life insurance is bought than permanent life insurance and for a good reason. People that are buying life insurance are thinking about why they need life insurance. The primary purpose for buying life insurance is not for the investment value, it is to provide for someone you love if you die. For example, a parent that wants to assure their children will have money for a college education may buy a term life insurance policy for twenty years or until that obligation is complete. However, if a person wants to have life insurance available if they die close to their life expectancy, permanent life insurance is the best buy. For more details on the pros and cons of permanent versus term life insurance visit the Q & A page
References
The Center for Public Integrity. (2014, May 15). Justice Antonin Scalia financial disclosure report. Retrieved from https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2157458-scalia-antonin-2014.html
The Center for Public Integrity. (2016, May 11). Justice Anthony Kennedy financial disclosure report. Retrieved from https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2892147-Anthony-Kennedy-2015-PFD.html
The Center for Public Integrity. (2016, May 15). Justice Clarence Thomas financial disclosure report. Retrieved from https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2892148-Clarence-Thomas-2015-PFD.html
Supreme Court of the United States. (2016). Biography of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Retrieved from https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographyScalia.aspx
Supreme Court of the United States. (2017). Biographies of Current Justices of the Supreme Court. Retrieved from https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx