Clerkships, Fabulosity, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, SCOTUS, Stephen Reinhardt, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks

Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Looking Ahead To October Term 2015

Who are the first hires of October Term 2015?

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We’re in the home stretch of October Term 2013 at the Supreme Court. After the final two opinions are handed down on Monday, the justices will scatter to the winds (and supplement their incomes with teaching, often in lovely European destinations).

During the month of July, the clerk classes will turn over. Each week, new clerks will arrive and outgoing clerks will depart — do pass go, do collect your $300,000. (Or more; we’re hearing rumors of possible upward movement this year; drop us a line if you have info to share.)

So now is a good time to look at the latest SCOTUS clerk hires. We have almost all the clerks for October Term 2014, plus a few new hires for October Term 2015….

Before we get to the lists, here are a few interesting tidbits for those who follow the clerkship world. First, over at Top Law Schools, there’s a great thread in which a SCOTUS clerk fields questions about federal clerkships. The author is anonymous, but as one former SCOTUS clerk wrote when bringing it to my attention, “It seems pretty legit to me.” Check it out here.

Second, a different ex-SCOTUS clerk sent this observation our way:

Your interesting “where are they now” post about former Supreme Court clerks reminded me of something you might find interesting. The SCt clerk class from OT 2001 now has five sitting federal judges: Michelle Friedland (9th Circuit), Gregg Costa (5th Circuit), Ali Nathan (SDNY), Vince Chhabria (ND Cal.); Margaret Ryan (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces). Does any other class of SCt clerks approach that number of federal judges?

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If anyone would know, it would be the readers of a post like this one. If you know of a SCOTUS clerk class that boasts five or more federal judges, email us.

UPDATE (11:20 a.m.): A knowledgeable reader points out that the October Term 1993 clerk class has so far produced Judges Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Feinerman (N.D. Ill.), Oetken (S.D.N.Y.), former judge Mark Filip (N.D. Ill.), and Justice Alison Eid of the Colorado Supreme Court. Since Judge Filip left the bench (he’s now at Kirkland & Ellis), OT 2001 can still claim more sitting federal judges. But the OT 1993 clerks currently on the bench are heavy hitters: high-profile, highly regarded judges, several mentioned regularly as SCOTUS possibilities, and all with records of feeding clerks to the Court. (In fairness to the OT 2001 clerks, the OT 1993 clerks have some years on them, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.)

UPDATE (12:17 p.m.): Actually, it’s now a tie, even if you focus only on sitting federal judges. This past December, Justice Brian Morris of the Montana Supreme Court became Judge Brian Morris of the District of Montana. Morris clerked for Chief Justice Rehnquist in OT 1993. (Before that, Morris was a star football player in college for Stanford.)

UPDATE (12:28 p.m.): Another federal (although not Article III) judge to add to the OT 1993 tally: Corinne Ann Beckwith, a former clerk to Justice Stevens and current member of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

On to the lists. The October Term 2014 roster is almost complete, now that we have Arpit Garg as the missing clerk to retired Justice Souter. Said one of the tipsters who brought us this news, “Note that Judge Reinhardt has four clerks at SCOTUS next year.” Some feeder judges see their power wane as they grow older, but Judge Stephen Reinhardt — who is 83 years old, has been on the bench for almost 35 years, and has been dubbed the Emperor Palpatine of the Ninth Circuit — seems to only now be hitting his stride as a feeder. The justices might not love Judge Reinhardt’s opinions, but they seem to have a soft spot for his clerks.

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The only OT 2014 clerk we’re missing is one of Justice Ginsburg’s clerks. Upon information and belief, this person clerked for Judge Pierre Leval and works (or worked) at Wachtell Lipton. If you know his identity, feel free to share, and we’ll add it to this post. If not, no worries; we’ll find out soon enough, when the Court’s Public Information Office releases the official clerk list in a week or two.

We have enough clerks for October Term 2015 to break out a separate OT 2015 list. The OT 2014 and OT 2015 lists appear below. As always, if you have any additions or corrections, please email us (subject line: “SCOTUS Clerk Hiring”) or text us (646-820-8477). Thanks.

OCTOBER TERM 2014 SUPREME COURT CLERK HIRES (as of June 26, 2014)

Chief Justice John G. Roberts
1. Kathryn Cherry (Yale 2013 / Kavanaugh)
2. Chris Michel (Yale 2013 / Kavanaugh)
3. Graham Phillips (Harvard 2013 / Griffith)
4. Ryan Snyder (Notre Dame 2012 / Kethledge / Bristow Fellow)

Justice Antonin Scalia
1. Samuel Eckman (Chicago 2013 / Kozinski)
2. Benjamin Flowers (Chicago 2012 / Ikuta)
3. Judd Stone (Northwestern 2010 / Winfree (Alaska) / E. Jones)
4. Vivek Suri (Harvard 2013 / Sutton)

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1. Andrew Bentz (UVA 2012 / Kozinski)
2. James Crooks (Columbia 2013 / Kozinski)
3. Joshua Matz (Harvard 2012 / Oetken (S.D.N.Y.) / Reinhardt)
4. Caroline Van Zile (Yale 2012 / Kavanaugh / Boasberg (D.D.C.))

Justice Clarence Thomas
1. Jenn Bandy (Duke 2012 / Pryor)
2. Brinton Lucas (UVA 2011 / Wilkinson / Bristow Fellow)
3. Hayley (Nix) Proctor (Yale 2012 / Griffith)
4. Robert Stander (BYU Law / Lee (Utah) / Sutton)

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1. Ari Holtzblatt (Yale 2010 / Tatel),
2. Mark Musico (Columbia 2011 / Boudin / Woodlock (D. Mass.))
3. Lauren Pardee (Yale 2010 / Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) / Katzmann / Liu (Cal.))
4. ?

Justice Stephen G. Breyer
1. Ilana Gelfman (Yale 2009 / Woodlock (D. Mass) / Katzmann)
2. Michael Gervais (Yale 2011 / Kozinski)
3. Aaron Scherzer (Yale 2010 / Reinhardt / Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.))
4. Kendall Turner (Stanford 2013 / Garland)

Justice Samuel Alito
1. Megan Dillhoff (Notre Dame 2011 / Sutton)
2. William Marra (Harvard 2012 / Pryor)
3. Michael McGinley (Harvard 2009 / Gorsuch)
4. Aaron Nielson (Harvard 2007 / Smith (5th Cir.) / J.R. Brown)

Justice Sonia Sotomayor
1. Luke McCloud (Harvard 2011 / Niemeyer / Kavanaugh)
2. Michael Pollack (NYU 2011 / J.R. Brown)
3. James Sigel (Harvard 2011 / Reinhardt / Liu (Cal.) / Tatel)
4. Jennifer Sokoler (Columbia 2010 / Cote (S.D.N.Y.) / Katzmann)

Justice Elena Kagan
1. Will Dreher (Harvard 2013 / Kavanaugh)
2. Daniel Hemel (Yale 2012 / Boudin / Srinivasan)
3. Amanda Rice (Harvard 2011 / Boasberg (D.D.C.) / Tatel)
4. Elizabeth Wilkins (Yale 2013 / Garland)

Justice John Paul Stevens (retired)
1. Travis Crum (Yale 2011 / Thompson (M.D. Ala.) / Tatel / Bristow Fellow)

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (retired):
1. Eli Savit (Michigan 2010 / Bea / Tatel)

Justice David H. Souter (retired):
1. Arpit Garg (Yale 2012 / Reinhardt / Cote)

OCTOBER TERM 2015 SUPREME COURT CLERK HIRES (as of June 26, 2014)

Chief Justice John G. Roberts
1. Katherine Booth Wellington (Harvard 2013 / Kavanaugh)
2.
3.
4.

Justice Antonin Scalia
1. Sopan Joshi (Northwestern 2013 / Posner/ Feinerman (N.D. Ill.))
2.
3.
4.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1.
2.
3.
4.

Justice Clarence Thomas
1.
2.
3.
4.

(Marisa Maleck (Chicago 2011 / Pryor) has been hired for a Term other than October Term 2014.)

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1.
2.
3.
4.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer
1. Galen Bascom (UVA 2013 / Garland / Bristow)
2. Farah Peterson (Yale 2012 / Calabresi)
3.
4.

Justice Samuel Alito
1.
2.
3.
4.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor
1.
2.
3.
4.

Justice Elena Kagan
1.
2.
3.
4.

Justice John Paul Stevens (retired)
1.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (retired):
1. Sarah Boyce (Duke 2012 / Sutton / Bristow Fellow)

Justice David H. Souter (retired):
1. ?

Do you know about a hire we haven’t reported yet, or have an addition or correction to any of this info? Please email us (subject line: “SCOTUS Clerk Hiring”) or text us (646-820-8477). Thanks!

SCOTUS clerk taking questions about federal clerkships [Top Law Schools]

Earlier: Supreme Court Clerks: Where Are They Now?
Prior ATL coverage of Supreme Court law clerks

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