A Michigan Judge Says Book Sales Don't Count As Reportable Income. A Legal Expert Says Otherwise.

Michigan Advance

July 1, 2026

Over his more than a decade on the Michigan Court of Appeals, Judge Mark Boonstra has authored three books, sold them through Amazon, and written commentary on his personal Substack account that comes with a suggested $80 annual subscription pledge.

Financial reports filed annually with the State Court Administrative Office show Boonstra has not reported income from those activities.

In an email to Michigan Advance, Boonstra said the mandatory financial disclosure forms — which are filed by judges each year to the State Court Administrative Office — only state that a judge needs to report any compensation for “services” rendered outside their judicial salary and judicial assignments.

“The income you describe does not meet that qualification,” Boonstra told the Advance about money collected from his book sales.

Regarding the Substack account, Boonstra was adamant that it doesn’t have subscription fees, although the landing page does have a “pledge support” button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. The Advance shared with Boonstra a screenshot of the different tiers on his own site, noting that readers can sign up to provide future support to Boonstra’s account with a monthly pledge of $8 a month, an annual pledge of $80 a year, or a “founding” membership of $150 annually.

In response, Boonstra said he was unaware whether Substack allows readers to pledge support for future subscriptions or support, and that he has “never enabled any payment for any subscription.”

“In any event, it would not be Compensation for Services, as I understand it,” Boonstra said of the Substack subscriptions, whether they are actively turned on for his page or not.

Boonstra’s interpretation of the forms and the canons they reference — or rather, the rules that guide judges via the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct — may not align with what the canons actually say about outside compensation and the duty to report them as such.

The Advance in late June obtained financial disclosure reports filed by Boonstra from 2012 through 2025. The forms show that over a period of 14 years, the judge has never reported any income from book sales or from his Substack to the court in a portion of the form that asks for an accounting of any compensation for services outside of his judicial salary or specific assignments from the court.

The forms also ask for a detailed accounting of campaign contributions or expenditures, which is additionally filed with the Michigan Department of State — including received contributions, disbursements to his past campaigns, and the balance after calculating the payment of campaign expenses.

Boonstra in election years reported those campaign finance disclosures but still did not report any income from his books or Substack.

The judge writes prolifically and has produced three books over the past five years. His books, titled “In Their Own Words: Today’s Godless America … What Would Our Founding Fathers Think?” across three separate volumes, are available for purchase through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Two of the books were published in 2021, and the third was published in 2023, which was even promoted by President Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform.

Kindle editions of Boonstra’s books sell for as low as $10, but he also sells hardcover and paperback versions for $69 and $22, respectively.

Boonstra’s Substack, which uses the same theme as his books, is free but also encourages supporters to sign up for future support across three different tiers. The account features his musings on the state of America, its adherence to Christian principles and “identity politics.”

Many of his writings on Substack mesh constitutional originalism — a belief that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted only by its original context and meaning at the time it was written — with Christian religiosity and examinations of identity politics.

Just below the signature line on each disclosure form is a reference to Canon 6C of the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct. The section states that a judge shall report the date, place and nature of any activity for which the judge received compensation. That includes the name of the payer of the compensation and the amount of compensation a judge has received for that activity.

Several phone calls and emails requesting an interview with State Court Administrator Tom Boyd, to check if Boonstra was accurately interpreting the canons and following through on the reporting guidelines, were not returned.

Sam Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan and former Democratic candidate for Michigan Supreme Court, said that Canon 6 also notes a judge may receive compensation or reimbursement expenses for any “quasi-judicial and extra-judicial activities permitted by this code, if the source of such payments does not give the appearance of influencing the judge in judicial duties or otherwise give the appearance of impropriety.”

Canon 4, Bagenstos continued, outlines the meaning of extrajudicial activities.

“It specifically talks about speaking, writing, lecturing, teaching and participating in other activities concerning the law, as well as writing, lecturing, teaching, speaking and consulting on non-legal subjects,” Bagenstos said. “It’s that writing is a kind of extrajudicial activity that is contemplated by Canon 6, and it is completely clear in Canon 6 that any activity for which a judge receives compensation must be reported.”

Under that interpretation, Bagenstos says Boonstra’s books would constitute reportable writing activity.

As for his Substack, Bagenstos said it depends on whether Boonstra actually collected donations or not. In his response to the Advance, Boonstra said he was not actively collecting subscription fees.

“If there was no money to report, there was no money to report,” Bagenstos said. “But if there were book royalties that weren’t reported, that does seem like a violation of Canon 6. That needs to be reported pursuant to Canon 6.”

Boonstra’s adherence to the judicial canons has been called into question before. In 2022, a group of 19 organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the LGBTQA Section of the Michigan State Bar, sent a letter to then-Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget McCormack alleging that a concurring opinion written by Boonstra was contrary to the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct. The groups contended he violated those rules by refusing to use a defendant’s proper pronouns, but also for criticizing his fellow judges for their adherence to that standard.

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