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Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: A Look At October Term 2017

Some justices are done with their OT 2017 hiring, and some are not.

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Supreme Court Clerk Hallway originalLast week I posted a (very belated) roster of the Supreme Court clerks for October Term 2016. Thanks to everyone who provided law school and prior clerkship information, as well as corrections. For example, out of habit I erroneously referred to 38 clerks instead of 34, forgetting that the late Justice Scalia’s seat has not yet been filled.

Indeed, as Kimberly Robinson noted on Twitter:

It seems that Chief Judge Garland, one of the biggest feeder judges around, hasn’t fared quite as well in minting October Term 2017 clerks. As you can see in the list of OT 2017 clerks posted below, so far it seems that the pending SCOTUS nominee has fed just one clerk to his prospective colleagues at One First Street. But note that several habitual hirers of Garland clerks, such as Justice Kennedy, Justice Breyer, and Justice Souter, have not completed their OT 2017 hiring (as far as we know).

Which justices have finished picking clerks for OT 2017? We understand that Chief Justice Roberts has (although we seem to be missing one clerk’s name; upon information and belief, it’s a male graduate of JGR’s alma mater, Harvard Law School, possibly named “Aaron”). [UPDATE (8/3/2016, 4:00 p.m.): That would be Aaron Rizkalla (Harvard 2016 / Wilkinson).]

Also done: Justice Ginsburg, Justice Alito, and retired Justice Stevens. Hiring a full complement of clerks is a sign that the Notorious RBG (affiliate link) isn’t going anywhere; sorry, Donald Trump (and all the Trump shortlisters).

As SCOTUS clerkship groupies with Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link) might have heard, the young lawyers who were “orphaned” when Justice Scalia passed away have found homes in other chambers (consistent with SCOTUS tradition, in which the remaining justices try to accommodate the clerk hires of late colleagues). As previously reported by Tony Mauro, three out of the four Scalia hires found new SCOTUS clerkships (Nicole Frazer with Justice Alito for OT 2016, Nicholas Harper with Justice Kennedy for OT 2017, and Sean Mirski with Justice Alito for OT 2017). We also understand that the fourth Scalia clerk, Greg Miller, has been hired by Justice Thomas for OT 2017.

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Now, on to the list. If you have any corrections to the information appearing below, or if you have any hiring news we have not yet reported, please reach out by email or text (646-820-8477). Please include the words “SCOTUS Clerk Hiring” in your email or text message, perhaps as the subject line of your email or the first words of your text, because that’s how I locate these tips in my (overwhelmed) inbox. Thanks!

OCTOBER TERM 2017 SUPREME COURT CLERK HIRES (as of July 28, 2016)

Chief Justice John G. Roberts
1. Usha Chilukuri Vance (Yale 2013 / Thapar (E.D. Ky.) / Kavanaugh)
2. Charlie Dameron (Yale 2015 / Kethledge)
3. Caroline Flynn (Michigan 2013 / Flaum / Srinivasan)
4. Aaron Rizkalla (Harvard 2016 / Wilkinson)

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1. Nick Harper (Chicago 2015 / Kavanaugh)
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

Justice Clarence Thomas
1. Greg Miller (Berkeley 2012 / Thapar (E.D. Ky.) / Carnes)
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1. Beatrice C. Franklin (Columbia 2014 / Furman (S.D.N.Y.) / Carney)
2. Karim Kentfield (Berkeley 2012 / Fletcher / Srinivasan)
3. Mary Schnoor (Harvard 2016 / Posner)
4. Emma Simson (Yale 2013 / Boasberg (D.D.C.) / Tatel)

Justice Stephen G. Breyer
1. Cynthia Barmore (Stanford 2015 / Griffith)
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

Justice Samuel Alito
1. Sean Mirski (Harvard 2015 / Kavanaugh)
2. Kevin Neylan (Harvard 2015 / O’Scannlain)
3. Stephen Petrany (Yale 2014 / W. Pryor)
4. James Saywell (Ohio State 2014 / McKeague / Sutton)

Justice Sonia Sotomayor
1. Carmen Iguina (NYU 2010 / Matsumoto (E.D.N.Y.) / Reinhardt)
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

Justice Elena Kagan
1. A. Zoe Bedell (Harvard 2016 / Kavanaugh)
2. Lena Husani Hughes (Columbia 2012 / Cote (S.D.N.Y.) / G. Lynch / Bristow Fellow)
3. Jeremy Kreisberg (Harvard 2014 / Reinhardt)
4. Ephraim McDowell (Harvard 2016 / Garland)

Justice John Paul Stevens (retired)
1. Donald Goodson (NYU 2013 / Nathan (S.D.N.Y.) / Katzmann)

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

Do you know about a hire not previously reported, or do you have an addition or correction to any of this info? Please share what you know by email or text (646-820-8477). Please include the words “SCOTUS Clerk Hiring” in your email or text message, as the subject line of your email or the first words of your text, because that’s how I locate these tips in my inundated inbox. Thanks!

Supreme Ambitions [Amazon (affiliate link)]

Earlier: Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Official List
Prior ATL coverage of Supreme Court law clerks

David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].

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