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Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Justice Sotomayor
(Plus info about Justice Thomas for OT 2010.)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 4:37 PM - By David Lat

Supreme Court hallway Above the Law Above the Law Above the Law.JPGThe complete, official list of Supreme Court clerks for October Term 2009 — i.e., the clerks who recently arrived at One First Street — will be released by the Public Information Office shortly, perhaps by the end of this week. We’ve previously listed many of the Court’s OT 2009 law clerks in these pages.

But we didn’t name all of them. Our list didn’t include the hires of newly confirmed Justice Sonia Sotomayor. We understand that Justice Sotomayor has hired all of her clerks for OT 2009 — which makes sense, since she has a lot of work to tackle before the official start of the Term — but no clerks yet for OT 2010. Her OT 2009 clerks started working at the Court yesterday.

We think we know three out of four of them — but we’re not sure. We also have some info about Justice Clarence Thomas’s clerk hiring, but we need to fill in some blanks.

Can you help us?

UPDATE: We think we have all four Sotomayor clerks now. ¡Gracias!

Please note that this information is PRELIMINARY; we have not fact-checked it to our usual standards. But we want to get some names on the board in advance of the official list (which is expected later this week).

If you see errors, or if you know the missing fourth clerk, please email us (subject line: “SCOTUS clerk hiring”). We will correct any errors promptly. Thanks.

1. Jeremy Marwell (NYU Law / S. Williams (D.C. Cir.))

Marwell is an alumnus of the DOJ’s extremely prestigious and powerful Office of Legal Counsel, which has a long track record of sending young attorneys into SCOTUS clerkships. We once dubbed it the Finishing School for the Elect.

2. Eloise Pasachoff (Harvard 2004 / Rakoff (2004-05) / Katzmann (2005-06))

Pasachoff is currently a Climenko Fellow at Harvard Law School, which is a nice credential to have on one’s résumé. The Rakoff / Katzmann tag team has a strong record of feeding clerks to the high court.

Of the two judges for whom Pasachoff clerked, we’re guessing Judge Katzmann played a larger role in placing her at the Court. It’s not surprising to see Judge Katzmann feeding one of his former clerks to Justice Sotomayor, since he coordinated SS’s transition to the Court from the Second Circuit (the court on which they’ve served together for a decade). RAK is one of the Wise Latina Woman’s closest friends, was a fixture in the audience at her confirmation hearings, and was one of the few people outside of her immediate family to attend her private swearing-in ceremony.

3. Rob Yablon (Yale / W. Fletcher / R. Ginsburg)

One big virtue that Yablon brings to the table: prior SCOTUS clerkship experience. He just finished clerking for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — Justice Sotomayor’s fellow female on the Court, as well as a fellow New Yorker.

Justices embarking on their maiden voyages often like to bring experienced Supreme Court clerks on board. See here (item #2 — RBG and SGB) and here (SAA) for examples of newbie justices who hired seasoned SCOTUS clerks for their first Terms.

UPDATE: We believe we have the name of the fourth Sotomayor clerk:

4. Lindsey Powell (Stanford 2007 / Garland / J. Stevens)

The hiring of Lindsey Powell, who just finished clerking for Justice John Paul Stevens, underscores our point about newly appointed justices bringing experienced Supreme Court clerks with them.

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In other clerk hiring news, we understand that Justice Thomas has completed his hiring for October Term 2010. If you can help us out with some names, please email us (subject line: “SCOTUS clerk hiring”). Thanks!

SCOTUS Clerk Hiring [Clerkship Notification Blog]
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States [Wikipedia]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Supreme Court clerks (scroll down)

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Posted in: Clarence Thomas, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks

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