"We don't normally contemplate a high-level Justice Department official becoming a Supreme Court clerk," said Ronald D. Rotunda, a specialist in legal ethics at George Mason University School of Law. "It's just asking for problems that are unnecessary." Most Supreme Court law clerks, who prepare memorandums and draft decisions for the justices, have little of note on their résumés beyond superior grades at a top law school and a clerkship with a federal appeals court judge.I'm surprised the opinion is as positive as it is. I would have expected a flood of comments like Rhode's, especially since so many lawprofs opposed Alito anyway. But maybe lawprofs like the idea that mature persons with a depth of experience working closely with Supreme Court Justices. Ciongoli aside, we see a potential trend. Maybe people like us -- and not our students -- should have these jobs. Hey, take me!
"They're like legal Doogie Howsers — child prodigies of the law," said David Lat, a former federal prosecutor whose blog "Underneath Their Robes" reports on the hiring of Supreme Court clerks. "Yet they're influencing decisions that affect millions."...
"It really indicates a lapse in judgment," Deborah L. Rhode, who teaches legal ethics at Stanford, said of Justice Alito's decision. "I just don't think it helps your reputation for nonpartisanship, particularly after such partisan confirmation hearings, to start out by hiring someone who is perceived to have an ideological agenda."...
"He cannot work for the justice on any cases that come before the court if he worked on those matters at Time Warner or the government," said Stephen M. Gillers, who teaches legal ethics at New York University. "You don't want him to the judge [sic] the quality of his own work."
Of course, it will never be possible to know what sort of casual conversations may take place in Justice Alito's chambers, said Monroe H. Freedman, who teaches legal ethics at Hofstra University. "No one is ever going to be able to police that," Professor Freedman said.
But, he added, "There is also a presumption that the justice can think for himself regardless of anyone he gets advice or counsel from."...
In all, Justice Alito's decision to hire Mr. Ciongoli was smart, said Steven Lubet, who teaches legal ethics at Northwestern. "Somebody with some real experience can provide better work than someone who's green," Professor Lubet said. "It's a terrific idea."
February 19, 2006
About that highly experienced Supreme Court law clerk.
A few days ago, we were talking about Justice Alito's new law clerk Adam G. Ciongoli, an experienced lawyer who worked closely with Attorney General John Ashcroft on Bush Administration policies that addressed theh 9/11 attacks. Today, Adam Liptak rounds up some opinion:
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9 comments:
Ciongoli aside, we see a potential trend. Maybe people like us -- and not our students -- should have these jobs. Hey, take me!
I would think law schools would be quite happy to have their professors take a sabbatical for a year or two to clerk for the SCOTUS. That would HAVE to help with rankings and recruiting. Other than having to replace a professor for a year or two, I don't see much downside for the schools, and some great potential upside.
As a side question, can people make clerking a career choice? Is there anything barring someone from clerking as a permanent job?
Icepick: The choice would be up to the Justice.
I think it is great if it becomes a trend. Perhaps then someone from somewhere other than Harvard, Yale, Stanford, can get a clerk job on the Court.
"They're like legal Doogie Howsers — child prodigies of the law,"
Or, to put it more negatively, they are idiot savants--very smart, very hard-working, very opinionated, very full of themselves; lacking experience and humility.
They bring with them a lifetime spent in academia, with all the foibles and ideology that entails. It is ludicrous to pretend that they patiently wait for a justice's orders and then, in their research, reporting, discussion, and writing, robotically reflect what he or she wants. They try to shape the justice's work as much as any 40-year-old with a 15-year paper trail.
Thanks, Ann.
David wwrote: If law professors feel threatened by the appearance of seasoned law clerks maybe they will stop preaching their own bias to future lawyers.
This does not follow at all. Why stop teaching one's own bias to future lawyers? The idea is to influence those future lawyers attitudes and beliefs about the purpose, interpretation and use of the law, not hope that perhaps one or two of them might end up clerking for SCOTUS and regurgitate what you've taught them.
That came out way too negative. I don't really think young clerks are idiot savants.
But it is ridiculous to think that they are any less biased than people who have practised for a number of years. The latter have simply allowed some of their biases to be known.
Isn't the young, green clerk part of the mystique of the office, in that a justice alone supposedly handles the "inspiration" part of it all, while the clerk does the "perspiration" part?
I think it would be a good thing to have more seasoned clerks aboard. I'm not an attorney, but it seems like a good thing--it would open up a whole new line of attack in confirmatin hearings, though.
The real problem in getting more experienced clerks is that the job does not pay all that well. Somebody with children to support and a mortgage to pay, might have a tough time.
If Congress is going to put more money into the system, I would hope they would focus on salries at the ditrict court level, which are woefully inadequate in most major urban centers.
"The real problem in getting more experienced clerks is that the job does not pay all that well."
This is a problem with respect to all sorts of government jobs. But some people, like Ciongoli, will make the sacrifice. He's pretty wealthy, so how big a deal is it?
As to the requirements of family and mortgages, that's a good reason to choose really old people (like me). And we scholars don't make all that much money (compared to practicing lawyers). We also have a lot to gain from the experience.
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