As promised, we're back with our second installment of LEWW this week. We think you'll agree that this one features some of our finest contestants of the season. A SCOTUS clerkship (finally!), a Rhodes, more YLS grads -- enjoy this special Independence Day edition of the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch!

Here are the names:

1. Stephanie Denton and Zeno Baucus

2. Mary Fan and Dean Kawamoto

3. Emma Terrell and Trevor Leitch

4. Courtenay Van Sciver and Peter Washkowitz

5. Maria Glover and Derek Ho

Click on the "continue reading" link below to see these couples' photos and sparkly credentials.

While we're on the subject of Supreme Court clerks...

The AMK clerk who worked on Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the Court held that imposing the death penalty for raping a child was unconstitutional, has committed an even bigger boo-boo than the JGR clerk who screwed up the Bob Dylan quotation.

As noted yesterday, sometimes the Elect are "just like us."

In Court Ruling on Executions, a Factual Flaw [New York Times]
The Supremes Dis the Military Justice System [CAAFlog]

What's going on at the Supreme Court? Last weekend, after handing down the last opinions of October Term 2007, two of the justices had law clerk reunions at One First Street.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hosted a tea for her clerks on Sunday afternoon. Perfectly lovely and civilized, and just what one would expect from a justice with a white frilly thing sprouting from her neck.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has his clerk reunion every five years. There was a black-tie dinner at the Court on Saturday night, followed by a kid- and family-friendly lunch on Sunday. Turnout was strong, and the attendees included several former AMK clerks who are now judges: Chief Judge Alex Kozinski (9th Cir.; awkward?), Judge Brett Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.), Judge Neil Gorsuch (10th Cir.), and the just-confirmed Raymond Kethledge (6th Cir.). We may have a more detailed report on the AMK reunion later.

And speaking of Supreme Court clerks, we have lots of hiring news to pass along. We were hoping to wait a bit longer to tie up some loose ends (of which there are a number). But since some of this news has been showing up elsewhere -- e.g., the Volokh Conspiracy (Orin Kerr); Wikipedia -- we've been forced to show our hand.

As noted over at the Clerkship Notification Blog, Justice John Paul Stevens and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg have completed their law clerk hiring for October Term 2009. In addition, we've independently confirmed that Justice Antonin Scalia is also all finished for OT 2009. If you were hoping to land a clerkship with JPS, RBG, or AS -- who, by the way, are frequently mentioned by ex-SCOTUS clerks (of all ideological stripes) when you ask them who the smartest of the nine justices are -- sorry, but the courthouse doors are closed. Try again next year.

Check out the list of Supreme Court clerks for OT 2009 -- which contains some information gaps, which we're hoping you can help us fill -- after the jump.

They work on the most significant -- and glamorous -- legal cases of our time. They get $250,000 signing bonuses when they leave the marble palace at One First Street for private practice. They dominate when it comes to Legal Eagle Wedding Watch.

But at the end of the day, Supreme Court clerks are just like us. Some of their storybook weddings end unhappily.

From Robert Ambrogi, over at Legal Blog Watch:

It is the dream of so many Biglaw lawyers: To simplify, to downsize, to forgo big bucks in favor of personal fulfillment. And it was the dream the former Washington, D.C., Biglaw partner had pursued -- at least until his plans were foiled by last week's Massachusetts Appeals Court opinion in the case, C.D.L. v. M.M.L.

The unidentified lawyer had it all, graduating from law school near the top of his class, clerkships with a federal circuit court and then the Supreme Court, a private practice in energy law with the D.C. office of a large Wall Street firm, average annual income of $700,000, a large house in Maryland and private schools for the kids.

Eventually the travel and stress got to him and he began to contemplate downsizing. He and his wife came up with a plan for him to leave his firm and seek an alternative career, but still earn sufficient income to keep their lifestyles comfortable.

Seems reasonable. But things didn't turn out quite as they expected.

Read more, below the fold.

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.

* Back in February, we did a mini-profile of Isaac Lidsky, an incoming law clerk to retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Now Tony Mauro takes a more detailed look at the child actor who will be the Supreme Court's first blind law clerk, including a very interesting discussion of how Lidsky will handle a "reading-intensive job that entails digesting hundreds of petitions and writing memos and rough drafts of decisions." [Legal Times]

* The WSJ Law Blog has a fun interview with Justice Antonin Scalia (posted in three parts). Some highlights:

PART 1: Nino's recommendations for Italian food in Washington: Tosca (although it's "a lot pricier than A.V. [Ristorante, now closed]"); Bebo, in Crystal City ("much less pricey," and the pizzas "are perhaps even better than they were at A.V.").

Also, here's a new nickname for the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel: "the Paladin of Presidential Prerogative." (We still prefer Finishing School for the Elect.)

PART 2: "[D]issents are just good. Look back at Korematsu. Isn't it nice to know that Robert Jackson - at least someone on the Court - saw how horrible it was? A dissent keeps you honest."

PART 3: Don't pick your nose. Also, on The Merchant of Venice: "Portia was a terrible judge. I mean, you know, if you write a contract to take a pound of flesh, then obviously you take whatever blood goes with it. That's implicit. That was terrible."

* And here's an earlier interview with Justice Scalia and his co-author, legal writing guru Bryan Garner. [ABA Journal]

* When Paul Clement (a former Scalia clerk) announced his resignation as U.S. Solicitor General, there was lots of speculation about where he'd be going next. Here's the answer. [National Law Journal]

Update: More about the Clement move appears at the BLT. Clement tells Tony Mauro that his GULC gig is "full-time, but temporary -- a full-time job until I get the next full-time job" (with a law firm).

Last week, speaking before a class at Harvard Law School, we vowed that we would track down the two missing Alito clerks for October Term 2008. As President Bush might say, "Mission Accomplished."

These two gents will be clerking for Justice Samuel A. Alito in October Term 2008:

1. Michael Park (Yale 2001 / Alito)

2. Andrew Oldham (Harvard 2005 / Sentelletubby)

For those of you keeping track at home, the list of OT 2008 Supreme Court law clerks is now complete. Jaynie Randall, identified as a future Alito clerk, has been moved to October Term 2009 (which is when she'll be clerking for SAA, we've been told).

Both Park and Oldham are currently attorney-advisors at the DOJ's super-powerful and prestigious Office of Legal Counsel. They don't call OLC the Finishing School for the Elect for nothing!

Yesterday we raised the possibility that Messrs. Park and Oldham, in laying low as SCOTUS clerks, were being a bit "precious." We have nothing against preciousness -- it's our stock in trade here at ATL -- but we take back the suggestion with respect to Park and Oldham. The reason the word about them took so long to get out is that they were initially told to keep the good news to themselves -- which they did, showing the discretion to be expected of Supreme Court clerks.

While we're on the subject, we reiterate this recent request, related to our attempt to build a demographic portrait of the incoming clerk class:

If you know of either (1) a clerk who is a racial or ethnic minority or (2) a clerk whose gender is not revealed by their name (we already know that incoming AMK clerk Ashley Keller is a guy), please let us know, preferably by email (subject line: "SCOTUS clerk demographics"). Thanks.

The corrected OT 2008 and OT 2009 SCOTUS clerk lists -- with Michael Park and Andrew Oldham added, and Jaynie Randall moved to OT 2009 -- appear after the jump.

Here are a few items about U.S. Supreme Court clerk hiring:

1. The justices have completed their hiring for October Term 2008. They're all done (including retired Justice O'Connor). If you were hoping to land a SCOTUS clerkship for OT 2008 and haven't heard anything, our condolences -- that ship has sailed.

2. Here are two hires not previously reported in these pages:

(a) Clerking for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. (Term not determined): Jaynie Randall (Yale 2006 / M. Patel (N.D. Cal.) / Cabranes).

(b) Clerking for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (for October Term 2009): Scott Keller (University of Texas 2007 / Kozinski).

We don't know whether Randall will be clerking for Justice Alito in OT 2008 or OT 2009. We have reason to believe that she's an OT 2009 clerk. But that would leave two unknown spots for OT 2008 in SAA's chambers, which strikes us as strange. So we are listing her as OT 2008 for the time being, until the mysteriously missing Alito clerks are identified.

(On that subject, if the outstanding Alito clerks for OT 2008 are deliberately trying to conceal their identities from the world -- perhaps thinking their fellow clerks are fit to be listed on ATL and Wikipedia, but they are somehow too "special" to be revealed -- that strikes us as rather precious and self-important. Also, their names will appear on the Court's official list of law clerks in a few weeks, making the cloak-and-dagger secrecy even more unwarranted.)

Keller, a current clerk for Judge Kozinski, will do a Bristow Fellowship in between his Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court clerkships. To the ATL readers who asked about whether Bristow Fellows had been announced, there's your answer.

3. The Clerkship Notification Blog, a tremendously helpful resource for those in the clerkship hunt, is up and running for the 2009-10 clerkship season. The main page is accessible here, and the SCOTUS clerk section is accessible here.

4. Finally, we'd like to pose the same question to you about SCOTUS clerk demographics that we posed last year:

We're interested in figuring out how many law clerks for the upcoming Supreme Court Term are women or minorities. But we don't know all these folks personally (much as we might like to). So we need your help.

If you know of either (1) a clerk who is a racial or ethnic minority or (2) a clerk whose gender is not revealed by their name (we already know that incoming AMK clerk Ashley Keller is a guy), please let us know, preferably by email (subject line: "SCOTUS clerk demographics"). Thanks.

(Some of you might find this inquiry crass. But racial and gender diversity among Supreme Court law clerks has been discussed on Capitol Hill and in the pages of the New York Times and the Legal Times. So please don't get upset at us for being curious about something that members of Congress and the mainstream media are already interested in.)

The latest lists of the OT 2008 and OT 2009 law clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court, with Randall and Keller added, appear after the jump.

Thanks to everyone who responded to our open call for Supreme Court clerk hiring news. We now know the identities of Justice David H. Souter's four law clerks for October Term 2008:

1. Erin Delaney (NYU 2007 / Guido-maniac)
2. Michael Gerber (Yale 2005 / Leval)
3. Warren Postman, (Harvard 2007 / W. Fletcher)
4. Noah Purcell (Harvard 2007 / Tatel Tot)

Congratulations to all. And if someone could put their names into Wikipedia, now that their hiring has been confirmed, that would be most appreciated.

We're still missing those last two Alito clerks. Are they playing a game of hide and seek with us? If you can give us a hint as to who they are -- or, better yet, name, rank, and feeder judge clerkship -- please email us.

Updated lists of the OT 2008 and OT 2009 SCOTUS clerks, with the DHS clerks added, after the jump.

Over a month has passed since our last update on Supreme Court clerk hiring. We hear through the grapevine that Justice David H. Souter has finally picked his law clerks for October Term 2008. And we're guessing that Justice Samuel A. Alito has too (since we've known about his first two hires for quite some time).

But we don't have any names. The SCOTUS clerk Wikipedia page and the Clerkship Notification Blog also have no hard news to pass along.

If you follow SCOTUS clerk hiring, please take a look at the lists after the jump (reprinted from last month's post). Are you aware of an OT 2008 or OT 2009 clerk who isn't listed? 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.

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.

We bring you an addendum to Monday's post about the latest in Supreme Court clerk hiring. And we're pleasantly surprised to see that we have this news before Wikipedia.

Recently hired to clerk for Justice Stephen G. Breyer in October Term 2008: Brianne Gorod, currently in the D.C. office of O'Melveny & Myers. Gorod is a 2005 Yale Law grad and a former clerk to the judicial tag team of Jed S. Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) and Robert A. Katzmann (2d Cir.).

Those who obsessively follows SCOTUS clerk hiring know that Judges Rakoff and Katzmann have jointly sent clerks to the Court before. But contrary to some rumors, they're not always a "package deal" when it comes to hiring (although there is a significant degree of overlap among their current and former clerks).

Judge Katzmann prefers to hire individuals who have clerked on the district court (or have some other kind of post-law school work experience), so he regularly turns to Judge Rakoff, for whom he has a great deal of respect, as a source of clerkly talent. Judge Katzmann sometimes also helps promising applicants to his own chambers to secure interviews with Judge Rakoff. Conversely, Judge Rakoff also refers and sends clerks to Judge Katzmann, as well as to other Second Circuit judges, and he has also hired some clerks after Second Circuit clerkships. In short, both judges think it's valuable for people to have both district and circuit clerkship experiences, and they try to help make that happen for their clerks. But they don't hire 100 percent of their clerks jointly.

The current tally of OT 2008 SCOTUS clerks, with Brianne Gorod added, appears after the jump.

Things have been quiet on the Supreme Court clerk hiring front. There are rumors that Justice Alito has finally finished hiring for October Term 2008, but nobody seems to know who the lucky winners are. If you know, please drop us a line.

We do, however, have some news. A tipster reports:

Justice Ginsburg just hired a 2006 UVA Grad to begin clerking summer 2009. I knew Pamela Bookman (pictured) in law school, and not only is she incredibly smart, she is remarkably fun and down to earth. Kudos to Pam!

For confirmation, see this article, which has the story of how Pam Bookman got an offer from RBG on the spot:

Even though Bookman [who is clerking for the International Court of Justice in The Hague] currently lives thousands of miles away from Washington, D.C., she was still able to arrange an in-person meeting with Ginsburg. Two weeks after receiving an e-mail from Klarman saying that Ginsburg wanted to interview her, Bookman traveled to Washington while visiting her parents during winter break. Bookman chuckled that her interview was her first time ever visiting the Supreme Court. After chatting with Ginsburg about international law, the justice offered her the job on the spot.

“It was thrilling, it was surreal,” she said. “I’m still not sure this is real.”

The current tally of OT 2008 and OT 2009 SCOTUS clerks, with Pamela Bookman added, appears after the jump.

Today's Morning Docket links to this fascinating article by one of our favorite Supreme Court correspondents, Tony Mauro. Mauro writes:

Among prominent federal appeals court judges in the 1990s, Barack Obama was known as “the one who got away.”

In 1990, Obama had been elected the first African-American president of Harvard Law Review, which made him a blazingly hot prospect as a law clerk for one of the top federal appeals judges, who in turn would almost certainly send him on to the Supreme Court as a clerk.

But with a remarkable certitude that still amazes his friends and elders, Obama said no to all that...

But the three individuals listed below didn't "get away"; they have not escaped the justices' clutches. They've all been hired to clerk for Chief Justice John G. Roberts in October Term 2008 (who is, by the way, now done hiring for next Term -- sorry, aspiring JGR clerks):

1. William Baude (Yale 2007 / McConnell)
2. Jeffrey Harris (Harvard 2006 / Sentelle / Silberman)
3. Erin Murphy (Georgetown 2006 / Sykes)

Will Baude (pictured) is a fellow blogger, founder of Crescat Sententia (where he once interviewed us). Jeff Harris is currently finishing up the second of two D.C. Circuit clerkships (because, you know, doing just one wasn't prestigious enough). Erin Murphy is currently a Bristow Fellow. She was, incidentally, hired by then-Judge Samuel Alito to clerk for him on the Third Circuit -- so she has actually been hired by two justices (even though she never clerked for SAA due to his intervening elevation).

Also, note the feeding by Judges Michael McConnell (10th Cir.) and superhottie Diane Sykes (7th Cir.). They're both highly-regarded judges who are reputed to be great to work for. Expect to see them feed more in the future (especially Judge McConnell, a former SCOTUS clerk himself -- having once been a SCOTUS clerk is highly correlated with feeding your own clerks).

The current tally of OT 2008 SCOTUS clerks, with the three new Roberts clerks added, appears after the jump.

The Man That Got Away [Legal Times]

Almost half of the justices are done hiring their law clerks for October Term 2008. The latest justice to finish up: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

In addition to Chris Walker (Stanford 2006 / Kozinski), whose hiring has been previously noted in these pages, congratulations to the three newest AMK clerks:

1. Ashley Keller (University of Chicago 2007 / Posner)
2. Travis Lenkner (Kansas 2005 / Kavanaugh)
3. Steven Shepard (Yale 2007 / Kozinski)

It's unusual to have two clerks from the same feeder judge in the same justice's chambers. But if there's any combination that's likely to produce such a development, it's Kozinski --> Kennedy (just as Luttig would sometimes send two clerks to Justice Scalia in the same Term; also note Judge Garland filling three out of Justice Stevens's four slots in OT 2008).

Ashley Keller appears to be the first Chicago clerk in OT 2008. Also note the (unsurprising) emergence of the well-connected Judge Brett Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.), relatively new to the federal bench, as a feeder judge extraordinaire.

The current tally of OT 2008 SCOTUS clerks, with the three new Kennedy clerks added, appears after the jump.

The signing bonuses for U.S. Supreme Court clerks who join law firms after their clerkships have reached $250,000. But if a cool quarter million, on top of a third-year associate's salary, is not enough, former SCOTUS clerks can supplement their income by hawking the traditional departure gift -- a photograph of the nine justices, autographed by each one -- on eBay.

(The Court portrait currently on sale on eBay is not being sold by a former Supreme Court clerk, though. It's "from the estate of the late Michael Rodak, Jr., who was the Clerk of the United States Supreme Court from 1972 to 1981." The bidding is currently at $1,825. But if that strikes you as high, it's not high enough -- the seller's reserve price has not yet been met.)

9 Rehnquist Supreme Court Autographs on Photo Mount [eBay]

In terms of feeding his current crop of clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Judge Michael Boudin (1st Cir.) is batting 1.000. We received this tip from multiple sources, but here's the most interesting iteration:

Moshe Spinowitz (HLS '06/Boudin) has been hired by Justice Scalia for October 2008. Spinowitz, or Spino, as he's known, was originally hired by Judge Luttig before he left the bench.

Ah, that makes more sense. Boudin ---> Scalia is not a typical path. And with the addition of Spinowitz, half of the Scalia chambers for OT 2008 will have hailed from Boudinville.

(Justice Scalia previously hired Spinowitz's co-clerk, Yaakov Roth. But with all due respect to Chief Judge Boudin, he may not deserve much credit for feeding Roth. When you're the rara avis of an HLS summa, you can clerk on the Bergen County traffic court and still make it to One First Street.)

Another interesting factoid, considering Justice Scalia's weakness for Catholic kids as clerks:

Spinowitz is the second orthodox Jew Justice Scalia has hired this term (the other being Yaakov Roth). I guess the moral of the story is: If you're an orthodox Jew, try to clerk for Judge Boudin!

If his photograph (at right) is even vaguely accurate, and if he's 5'11" or taller, the handsome Spinowitz has a promising career as a male model. But in the meantime, we're sure that he'll enjoy being a SCOTUS clerk. Congrats, Moshe!

The current tally of OT 2008 Supreme Court clerks, with Mr. Spinowitz added, appears after the jump.

In October 2006, when LEWW reviewed her wedding, we wrote of Aileen McGrath (at right, with handsome hubby Jason Gillenwater):

Aileen is the President of the Harvard Law Review. HELLO!!! And this isn't mentioned in the announcement, but we've learned that she'll be clerking next year for Chief Judge Michael Boudin, of the First Circuit -- feeder judge extraordinaire.

So, Aileen, have you picked which Supreme Court justice you'd like to clerk for?

She has. We've learned that Aileen McGrath (Harvard 2007 / Boudin) has accepted an offer to clerk for Justice Stephen G. Breyer in October Term 2008. One source tells us: "[S]he’s universally recognized as brilliant. She was president of the law review and a Sears Prize winner."

We also hear that the fourth clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas for OT 2008 is a D.C. Circuit clerk (believed to be clerking for Judge David Sentelle). Will someone please give up the name?

Update: Her name is Claire Evans. She's a 2002 graduate of Rutgers School of Law - Camden, and she's the first alum of the school to score a SCOTUS clerkship. She clerked for Judge Jerome Simandle (D.N.J.) in 2003, and then for Michael Chertoff, back when he was still on the Third Circuit. Reports our source:

"Chertoff liked Claire so much that he took her to the Department of Homeland Security when he left the bench for Washington. Apparently, Claire continues to amaze and has now secured the most coveted of credentials -- a U.S. Supreme Court clerkship."

"[S]he holds the highest cumulative grade point average in the history of Rutgers School of Law - Camden. And, because of a grading change implemented the year after Claire graduated, it is now mathematically impossible for Claire's epic GPA to ever be topped."

Finally, expect more SCOTUS clerk hires in the near future. From an in-the-know tipster:

There's movement among the justices now. At least Alito, Roberts, Kennedy & Breyer have scheduled interviews in the last few days. Kennedy has scheduled pre-screen interviews, at least some of which are with Judge Kozinski.

The current tally of OT 2008 Supreme Court clerks, with Aileen McGrath and Claire Evans added, appears after the jump.

People, you've been holding out on us. We've been hearing rumors about more Supreme Court law clerk hiring taking place for the next Term (October Term 2008).

For example, there's gossip going around that Justice Samuel Alito has hired a clerk from Judge Harris Hartz (10th Cir.). We've also heard a rumor to the effect that Justice Thomas's mysterious fourth spot for OT 2008 has been filled -- mysterious, because he's already hired at least one clerk for OT 2009 (Marah Stith; see here).

But nobody has let us in on what's been going on. That's just plain wrong.

A list of the OT 2008 clerks that we know of appears after the jump. Are you aware of an OT 2008 clerk who isn't on the list? If so, please contact us, by email (subject line: "Supreme Court clerk hiring").

(You can also post a comment, but we prefer email for this subject, for verification and possible follow-up. Thanks!)

Update: We've been told, from a reliable source, that the rumor that Justice Alito has hired a clerk from Judge Hartz is not correct. As far as we know, Justice Alito has hired only two clerks for OT 2008: Dana Irwin (Yale 2002 / Scirica) and Jack White (Pepperdine 2003 / Alito).

We have another recipient of this week's award, a graduate of Tier 3 Creighton:

Name: Patrick Strawbridge

Law School: Creighton University

Current Position: Associate, Preti Flaherty

Why He's Our Winner: Will clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas in OT 2008.

Our tipster had this to say about Strawbridge:

Your next non-top-tier law grad story should be on Patrick Strawbridge. He graduated from Creighton Univ. School of Law (tier three, though we're hoping that will change very soon) in 04 and will be clerking for Justice Thomas in 08. He's also a really, really nice guy. Beautiful wife and two daughters, I believe. The only bad thing anyone has to say about Patrick is that he looks a little like a young Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons. Oh, and he completely blew whatever curve there might have been in all the classes he took.

We include a picture of Burns not so much to agree with our tipster's assessment, but rather so that you can contrast and compare and draw your own conclusions. At any rate, congratulations to Strawbridge for breaking the Tier 3 mold and helping build Creighton's rep.

Incidentally, ATL broke the news of Strawbridge's hire by Thomas over a year ago here.

Patrick Strawbridge bio [Preti Flaherty]
Preti Flaherty Attorney Accepts Clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas [Preti Flaherty]
Justice Thomas hires Patrick Strawbridge [Non-Sequiturs: 09.08.06]