Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Saved By the Bell Star To Clerk for Justice O'Connor!
(And another OT 2009 hire, by Justice Breyer)
Taken as a group, Supreme Court clerks can claim pretty much every honor under the sun. At One First Street, Rhodes and Marshall scholars are commonplace, law review editors-in-chief are a dime a dozen, and law school valedictorians abound.
But how many SCOTUS clerks have their own IMDb entry? Meet Isaac Lidsky (Harvard 2004 / Ambro), an attorney at the Department of Justice (Civil Appellate), who was selected last week by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as her law clerk for October Term 2008. He founded the non-profit Hope for Vision, and his bio there reads:
[Isaac] is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Thomas Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Before law school, Isaac founded Poindexter Systems, a now thriving internet advertising technology company in Manhattan. Isaac has been involved in raising awareness and funding for vision research for many years. He has organized several fundraising events, has appeared in the national media to promote awareness of the cause, has testified about the need for scientific funding before Congressional bodies on numerous occasions, and has served as a mentor to younger individuals afflicted with eye diseases. He has retinitis pigmentosa.
From a tipster:
I wonder if he is the first blind law clerk on the Supreme Court. I also wonder whether he's the first clerk to have thrown out the first pitch at an MLB game.[Before law school,] Isaac had a prior life as a child actor. His most notable role, I believe, was as Barton "Weasel" Wyzell (the new Screech) on Saved by the Bell: The New Class.
Awesome. Fay Diplomas and Sears Prizes pale in comparison next to the experience of having acted opposite Dennis Haskins (aka "Mr. Belding").
Also hired as a Supreme Court clerk, but for October Term 2009: Bessie Dewar (Yale 2006 / W. Fletcher / L. Pollak (E.D. Pa.)). She's been described to us as "brilliant," "wonderfully charismatic," and "one of nicest, most smiling people to grace the halls of the Yale Law School."
The current tally of OT 2008 and OT 2009 SCOTUS clerks, with Isaac Lidsky and Bessie Dewar added, appears after the jump.
Are you aware of an OT 2008 or OT 2009 clerk who isn't listed below? If so, please contact us, by email (subject line: "Supreme Court clerk hiring").
You can also post a comment to this post. But we prefer email for this subject, for verification and possible follow-up. Thanks.
OCTOBER TERM 2008 SUPREME COURT CLERK HIRES (as of February 4, 2008)
Chief Justice John G. Roberts
1. William Baude (Yale 2007 / McConnell)
2. Jeffrey Harris (Harvard 2006 / Sentelle / Silberman)
3. Erin Murphy (Georgetown 2006 / Sykes)
4. Porter Wilkinson (UVA 2007 / Kavanaugh)
Justice John Paul Stevens
1. Jessica Bulman-Pozen (Yale 2007 / Garland)
2. Cecelia Klingele (University of Wisconsin 2005 / B. Crabb (W.D. Wis.) / S. Black (11th Cir.))
3. Lindsey Powell (Stanford 2007 / Garland)
4. Damian Williams (Yale 2007 / Garland)
Justice Antonin Scalia
1. Jameson Jones (Stanford 2007 / Sutton)
2. Yaakov Roth (Harvard 2007 / Boudin)
3. David Thompson (Stanford 2007 / Kozinski)
4. Moshe Spinowitz (Harvard 2006 / Boudin)
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1. Ashley Keller (University of Chicago 2007 / Posner)
2. Travis Lenkner (Kansas 2005 / Kavanaugh)
3. Steven Shepard (Yale 2007 / Kozinski)
4. Chris Walker (Stanford 2006 / Kozinski)
Justice David H. Souter
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Clarence Thomas
1. William S. Consovoy (GMU 2001 / E. Jones)
2. Jennifer Mascott (GW 2006 / Kavanaugh)
3. Patrick Strawbridge (Creighton 2004 / M. Arnold)
4. Claire Evans (Rutgers - Camden 2002 / Simandle (D.N.J.) / Chertoff (3d Cir.) / Sentelle)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1. Sue-Yun Ahn (Columbia 2006 / Cote (S.D.N.Y.) / Tatel Tot)
2. Miriam Seifter (Harvard 2007 / Garland)
3. Kevin Schwartz (Yale 2006 / Calabresi)
4. Rob Yablon (Yale 2006 / W. Fletcher)
Justice Stephen G. Breyer
1. Brianne Gorod (Yale 2005 / Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) / Katzmann)
2. Seth Grossman (Yale 2005 / Reinhardt / Calabresi)
3. Aileen McGrath (Harvard 2007 / Boudin)
4. Matthew E. Price (Harvard 2006 / Boudin)
Justice Samuel Alito
1. Dana R. Irwin (Yale 2002 / Scirica)
2. Jack L. White (Pepperdine 2003 / Alito)
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (retired):
1. Isaac Lidsky (Harvard 2004 / Ambro)
OCTOBER TERM 2009 SUPREME COURT CLERK HIRES (as of February 4, 2008)
Chief Justice John G. Roberts
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice John Paul Stevens
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Antonin Scalia
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice David H. Souter
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Clarence Thomas
1. Marah Stith (Yale 2006 / O'Scannlain)
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1. Pamela Bookman (UVA 2006 / Sack)
2. John Rappaport (Harvard 2006 / Reinhardt)
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Stephen G. Breyer
1. Bessie Dewar (Yale 2006 / W. Fletcher / L. Pollak (E.D. Pa.))
2.
3.
4.
Justice Samuel Alito
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (retired):
1. ?
Please bring errors or omissions to our attention by email (subject line: "Supreme Court clerk hiring"). Thanks.
Isaac Lidsky [IMDb]
Isaac Lidsky [Berkman Center for Internet & Society]
Issac J. Lidsky bio [Hope for Vision]
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States [Wikipedia]
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Supreme Court clerks (scroll down)
(35) Comments
I believe I may be first.
SBTB rule(d).
I hope he's not an asshole like Dustin Diamond turned out to be.
Guys from my high school played the new Screech opposite Mr. Belding, went blind and then were hired by Justice O'Conner all the time, it was no big deal.
I'm thinking about clerking for SCOTUS after I graduate next year. Any thoughts on whether it's easier to get a spot with O'Connor than with an active justice?
"I wonder if he is the first blind law clerk on the Supreme Court. "
No, because, sorry, he's not clerking on the Supreme Court. With due respect to Justice O'Connor, she's nothing more than a traveling circuit judge now. If you don't work at One First Street on SCOTUS cases, you're not a member of The Elect.
if its not the blacks getting special treatment, its the blinds...damn affirmative action!
RP is a progressive disease, and it is possible that he may not be totally blind for some time.
With all due respect to the commenters above, I'm sure that many of them would give their left nut (or the female equivalent) for the chance to clerk for SDO, whether it is technically part of SCOTUS (actually, it is) or not.
Clerks to retired justices assist active justices with Supreme Court cases.
"O'Connor is the easiest... since she only has ONE and the others have FOUR." This is pretty stupid logic. The more openings there are, the more difficult it must be to get in... right.
O'Connor probably gets fewer applicants than the other Justice, since she's retired and most (all?) of her work involves sitting on courts of appeals around the country. I don't know if she gets 75% less than the others or not, though.
Does anyone know if she does anything with the rest of the Supreme Court (like commenting on cert petitions or something)?
I'm sure that a clerkship with her would be a very rewarding experience, but it seems to me that it would resemble a clerkship with a talented senior judge on a court of appeals, sort of like clerking for Chief Judge Restani on the CIT or Judge Friedman on the Federal Circuit. As such, I'd expect that her applicant pool looks a little different from the pool of people applying to clerk for the "active" Justices.
Perhaps someone who knows more about this than me could comment.
"selected last week by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor"?
Humor me. I am stupid, I know.
In thought O'Connor retired to care for her husband, and has been replaced on the court.
Therefore, how could anyone be selected to clerk for her?
This is the first piece of boring SCOTUS clerkery that I have cared about.
Also, Jaleel White was just hired by Souter. You heard it here first!
The O Connor clerk is basically a fifth clerk for Stevens. It is as much a substantive job as any of the other clerkships, even if it is a bit less prestigious.
And the market seems to value it like a regular SC clerkship. O Connor's clerk gets the same $250k bonus as the other 36 clerks serving active justices.
4:51 has it correct -- the O'Connor clerk spends a good bit of time working for another active Justice.
Thanks, 5:13. I'd heard that he hired one of the Olsen twins, but that was probably a mistake.
YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!
The clerk(s) to retired justice(s) rotate among the active justices, giving the lucky active justice a bonus clerk for the year. It is apparently not uncommon for the clerk to go on to clerk for an active justice.
Isaac is a great guy -- very smart and very funny. Congratulations to him. (And to clarify, he was not born blind; he has a degenerative disease.)
The O'Connor clerk both does work for SOC and serves as a fifth clerk for another Justice (including participation in the cert pool). I would imagine the farmed-out-to Justice is known to the applicant during the interview process. The particular Justice varies: in OT06 it was Breyer; in OT07 it was Kennedy. I don't know who it is for OT08. (A commenter mentioned Stevens, but I highly doubt this, for reasons not relevant here.)
At least in the eyes of the Justices, the other clerks, and firms/organizations offering post-clerkship opportunities, there is absolutely zero belief -- nada --that the SOC clerkship is somehow a "lesser" clerkship in any way than a position with any of the other Justices.
I was not aware of the "farming out." If that's how it works, then it seems to be just as good as any other Supreme Court clerkship. Thanks for the clarification.
Mr. ISAAAAC
5:19: Yeah, given that the Olsen twins are still in the press on a daily basis, it wasn't as funny, so he went with Jaleel. Souter's a quirky guy like that. I heard rumors that Soleil Moon Frye, Rick Schroeder, and Alfonso Riberio are all in a dead heat for spot in '09.
i hear that hannah montana is already gunning her ECs so she can get into harvard, attain PBK and a rhodes and eventually get into HLS.
Who is A.C. Slater clerking for?
Way to go Bessie! She wonderful and deserves the best.
We Jews are going to dominate the Supreme Court and institute Orthodox Jewish Law!!!
Just remember that these clerks are the same bores that will some day teach civ pro or animal rights.
12:10: Your sarcasm demonstrates that you have no idea how penetrating their insights into the discovery rules will be.
Obviously not the first SC clerk to have his own IMDB page. Here's one for John G. Roberts, Jr., a former law clerk for Justice Rehnquist. It looks like Mr. Roberts has starred in a PBS show entitled "The Supreme Court."
No chance that clerking for a retired Justice is as prestigious as clerking for an active Justice. The alternative view sounds like propaganda from people clerking for retired Justices.
LOL @ Mr. ISAAAC; best comment ever
Sorry Davidfriedlander, Bush already beat you to it in staffing the Supreme Curia.
Fear Catholic Law, infidel!
9:51
It may well be that clerking for a retired justice isn't as prestigious as clerking for an active Justice, but it's more prestigious than every other clerkship. Not bad to get the second best clerkship in the country, even if there's a 9-way tie for first.
By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if it's soon an 8-way tie for first, if CT keeps hiring TTT grads.
11:42
Maybe. But she's all retired and stuff. Whereas other clerkships have judges that aren't retired. So there's that.
As far as CT - extremely talented legal minds exist at every law school (although not in the same numbers as they do at top law schools). Justice Jackson went to Albany Law School. And he was probably like the greatest Justice ever.
Isaac, congratulations. You are now runner up against against Kiwi. I hope all is well. Best, MA
Jessie Spano was in the running but SDO didn't agree with all her chauvinistic views towards men and her exploits as a stripper. That, and she didn't get into Stanford.