Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: What's Up With OT 2009?
At his talk last week before the Federalist Society here in Washington, Justice Antonin Scalia casually alluded to interviewing a clerkship applicant "just the other day." One could sense the ears of hundreds of summer associates perking up at his passing mention of that coveted clerkship.
Justice Scalia's offhand remark confirmed what we've been hearing through the grapevine. Nino has started interviewing potential law clerks for October Term 2009 -- and he's started hiring, too. We've confirmed that he has hired Katherine Twomey, a 2008 graduate of UVA Law School, who will be clerking for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson (4th Cir.) before heading off to One First Street.
Is Justice Scalia moving early? Not terribly. It's true, of course, that the OT 2009 crop of clerks won't start for over a year. The Court is still busy handing down its biggest opinions for October Term 2007, and the October Term 2008 clerks have not yet arrived. (We have a short piece about the composition of the OT 2008 clerk class in this month's Washingtonian magazine; to read it, click here.)
But compared to his colleagues, Justice Scalia is in the middle of the pack when it comes to OT 2009 hiring. In addition to Scalia, five other justices have hired at least one clerk for 2009-2010. Justice Ginsburg is the farthest along, having already hired half of her clerks for that year.
To see what the class of SCOTUS clerks for OT 2009 looks like so far, read below the fold.
Please note that these are the clerks for October Term 2009 (i.e., the 2009-2010 judicial year). If you're looking for a list of the October Term 2008 clerks, who will be starting up at the Court over the summer, click here.
We are always looking for more Supreme Court clerk hiring information. Please bring errors or omissions to our attention by email (subject line: "Supreme Court clerk hiring"). Thanks.
OCTOBER TERM 2009 SUPREME COURT CLERK HIRES (as of June 10, 2008)
Chief Justice John G. Roberts
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice John Paul Stevens
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Antonin Scalia
1. Katherine Twomey (UVA 2008 / Wilkinson)
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1. Scott Keller (University of Texas 2007 / Kozinski)
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. Jaynie Randall (Yale 2006 / M. Patel (N.D. Cal.) / Cabranes)
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (retired):
1. ?
Clerks Head Off to $250,000 Bonuses [Washingtonian]
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States [Wikipedia]
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Supreme Court clerks (scroll down)
(36) Comments
No one ever called Mr. Belding "Principal Belding." They called him Mr. Belding. Dude.
wtg UVA
Hopefully, the 2009 term will see more NYU hires than the last few years. If not, NYU has to revamp its strategy.
Michigan: a dying giant.
Is Roger Lou clerking for sc?
Wahoowa
since when was michigan a "giant"
Wahoowa Wahoowa
Uni-V Virgi-ni-a
'ray 'ray UVA
Let's hear it for softball with orange dirt on your shoes, Feb Club and Foxfield.
(One guess where I went to law school.)
Wahoowa!
Thanks to Pam Bookman, though, for showing that one doesn't necessarily have to clerk for the right wing of the Court when coming from UVA as the past few years would indicate.
11:46 -
I think you meant "showing that one doesn't always get to clerk for the right wing of the Court."
People from my high school got hired as clerks for the Supreme Court. It was no big deal.
12:04,
That's precisely what I meant, though had I phrased it that way I'd've substituted "desirable" for "right" to avoid ambiguity.
Except that with the sexual connotation of "desirable", that doesn't really help either.
Isn't it a bit early to declare that Michigan is dying in terms of clerkships? There are only like 7 clerks listed. Only Harvard, Yale, Virginia, and Texas have clerks right now. Stanford and Chicago don't have anyone yet either.
wow. congrats katherine.
Harvard produces the best lawyers. By far. Period.
Yawn.
A buddy of mine at the softball tournament drank too much beer, had too much sun, and ended up puking in a trash can in the UVA Law library. Classic UVA stylee.
UVA is picking up its SCOTUS clerkship tally. What's making the difference these last couple of years?
Also, does anyone else find it odd that justices are hiring 2008 grads now, before they've even started their COA clerkships? Even if they were number 1 in their lawschool class, they could end up being lackluster clerks vis-a-vis other COA clerks. You would think that some of the justices might at least want some feedback from the COA judges before hiring someone who hasn't yet worked in the legal field...and no, summer jobs don't count as working in the legal field.
Couldn't go to a nicer or more deserving person--congratulations Katherine!
12:48 - go look at OT 2008, then come on back.
1:25 -- The Justices know that someone about to clerk for a particular COA Judge is going to emerge a year later ready to do the job. For instance, the stats show that the Justices clearly believe Wilkinson and Kozinski know how to pick and groom a SCOTUS clerk.
Yale - 3, UVa - 2, Harvard 1. UVA to T-3 in 2009. Lahoowa! Fun and Smart...To live and study and Charlottesville, is the stuff romance novels are made of.
@1:55, the grooming point makes sense. But what about waiting to see how the clerks perform at their feeder judge? Not all Wilkinson, Kozinski, etc. clerk is going to get a SCOTUS clerkship. Isn't there something to be said for waiting to see how well these people do their job, or is a writing sample from a law school class really enough?
congrats katherine! can't think of a more deserving person. wahoowa!
congrats katherine! can't think of a more deserving person. wahoowa!
1:05: Yes, Harvard does produce the best lawyers, by far. See, e.g., Phil Telfeyan.
I hear that Phil's got the inside track with Scalia -- apparently he's a great fan of "Sex and the City," too. Especially the great hats on the show.
Hey -- it occurs to me that maybe all the controversy on this blog and elsewhere about Phil and that trashy Harv. L. Rev. issue could be some sort of plot by Yale law students to encourage the justices to spurn Harv. L. Rev. editors as clerks.
re: grooming point -- it's not the case, as you suggest, though, that if a wilkinson or kozinski clerk (for example) doesn't get a clerkship that those judges didn't think they were good clerks. i can't imagine those judges wouldn't back all of their clerks wholeheartedly (unless they really screwed up, which truly isn't likely to happen if they come highly recommended enough to get one of those jobs).
obviously the justices have faith in judges as "groomers," and the wilkinsons and kozinskis tend to pick people who typically become great clerks. whether they get snatched up before or after they've been with their COA judge has a lot more to do with the time the particular justice likes to hire. katherine obviously is very qualified, wilkinson liked her, and scalia hires early. i think that's about all there is to it.
Katherine Twomey was not only the best student in UVA '08, but perhaps the nicest person too.
Go UVA! Wahoowa!
Katherine is incredibly deserving - brilliant to be sure, but also a fantastic classmate and colleague. Congrats to her! Wahoowa!
1:43- it's still way too early. One year can be an aberration (like the one year NYU had like 5 or something clerks). Its still too early to tell this year as Michigan usually only gets one clerk anyway. You don't know whats going to happen this year. I could see them getting 0 again, or even 2. Who the hell really knows? Regardless, one or two years doesn't mean anything. S.C. clerkships is something that is only relevant over a period of 10+ years. If we just look at last year, there are some really low ranked schools then who would be better than t6/t10/t14 for clerkships.
If UVA is truly picking up, and we're not just seeing a statistical aberration, and if the improved standing with the Justices is recent, then the good work the Justices and their law clerks are seeing from the Virginia Supreme Court Litigation Clinic may have something to do with it. The Clinic had a case granted last Term that was decided 9-0 in favor of the Clinic's client this Term; got another case granted this Term that was argued in March but has not yet been decided; and has gotten yet another case granted this Term for argument in October. The individual UVA grads being hired aren't necessarily people who participated in the Clinic, but the Clinic may be giving the Justices and their law clerks a favorable impression of the ability of top Virginia students to achieve a deep understanding of the Court's work.
Can't think of anyone from UVA '08 more deserving of a SCOTUS clerkship. Great student and great person as well. Congrats Katherine!
I'd like to echo all of the other posts congratulating Katherine. She's brilliant, hardworking, and a wonderful person, and certainly deserves this fantastic opportunity.
Yeah K-Two!