Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Another 2009 Hire
(And What's Up With Justice Alito?)
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.
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 to this post. But we prefer email for this subject, for verification and possible follow-up.
OCTOBER TERM 2008 SUPREME COURT CLERK HIRES (as of January 28, 2008)
Chief Justice John G. Roberts
1. William Baude (Yale 2007 / McConnell)
2. Jeffrey Harris (Harvard 2006 / Sentelle / Silberman)
3. Erin Murphy (Georgetown 2006 / Sykes)
4. Porter Wilkinson (UVA 2007 / Kavanaugh)
Justice John Paul Stevens
1. Jessica Bulman-Pozen (Yale 2007 / Garland)
2. Cecelia Klingele (University of Wisconsin 2005 / B. Crabb (W.D. Wis.) / S. Black (11th Cir.))
3. Lindsey Powell (Stanford 2007 / Garland)
4. Damian Williams (Yale 2007 / Garland)
Justice Antonin Scalia
1. Jameson Jones (Stanford 2007 / Sutton)
2. Yaakov Roth (Harvard 2007 / Boudin)
3. David Thompson (Stanford 2007 / Kozinski)
4. Moshe Spinowitz (Harvard 2006 / Boudin)
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1. Ashley Keller (University of Chicago 2007 / Posner)
2. Travis Lenkner (Kansas 2005 / Kavanaugh)
3. Steven Shepard (Yale 2007 / Kozinski)
4. Chris Walker (Stanford 2006 / Kozinski)
Justice David H. Souter
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Clarence Thomas
1. William S. Consovoy (GMU 2001 / E. Jones)
2. Jennifer Mascott (GW 2006 / Kavanaugh)
3. Patrick Strawbridge (Creighton 2004 / M. Arnold)
4. Claire Evans (Rutgers - Camden 2002 / Simandle (D.N.J.) / Chertoff (3d Cir.) / Sentelle)
For October Term 2009: Marah Stith (Yale 2006 / O'Scannlain)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1. Sue-Yun Ahn (Columbia 2006 / Cote (S.D.N.Y.) / Tatel Tot)
2. Miriam Seifter (Harvard 2007 / Garland)
3. Kevin Schwartz (Yale 2006 / Calabresi)
4. Rob Yablon (Yale 2006 / W. Fletcher)
For October Term 2009: Pamela Bookman (UVA 2006 / Sack) and John Rappaport (Harvard 2006 / Reinhardt)
Justice Stephen G. Breyer
1. Seth Grossman (Yale 2005 / Reinhardt / Calabresi)
2. Aileen McGrath (Harvard 2007 / Boudin)
3. Matthew E. Price (Harvard 2006 / Boudin)
4. ?
Justice Samuel Alito
1. Dana R. Irwin (Yale 2002 / Scirica)
2. Jack L. White (Pepperdine 2003 / Alito)
3. ?
4. ?
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (retired):
1. ?
Please bring errors or omissions to our attention by email (subject line: "Supreme Court clerk hiring"). Thanks.
Bookman ’06 to Clerk for Justice Ginsburg [University of Virginia School of Law]
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States [Wikipedia]
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Supreme Court clerks (scroll down)
Comments
Michigan
Posted by: A dying giant | January 28, 2008 01:32 PM
As a side note - does anyone have any info on who the Bristow hires are?
Posted by: anon | January 28, 2008 01:38 PM
UVA rocks!
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 01:45 PM
Where is NYU on the list? It is a pretty sad day when the editor-in-chief of the law review, who has a doctorate in history, cannot get an offer but articles editors at the Harvard Law Review can.
It would be nice if NYU put different professors and career service professionals in charge of clerkships as our record over the past 10 years stinks compared to comparative schools such as Chicago and Columbia.
Posted by: Anon | January 28, 2008 01:49 PM
Anyone notice how the liberal judges are the most elitist?
Democrats are such hypocrites.
Posted by: anon | January 28, 2008 01:54 PM
1:49:
That's b/c everyone knows that NYU isn't that great. They have spent their way to a top 5 ranking but haven't fooled anyone except US News and a few law students. Nobody likes new money.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 02:02 PM
1:54 - Shouldn't the Supreme Court be at least a little elitist? Pepperdine, Creighton, and Rutgers don't generally attract the brightest scholars, but the Supreme Court should. Also, Scalia's a liberal now?
Posted by: Anon | January 28, 2008 02:03 PM
This is so incredibly irrelevant to the ordinary practice of law that it's not funny.
Well, actually, it IS funny to see all the prestige-whores on this list turn their noses up at the justices' hiring choices, Other than that, this article is meaningless.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 02:08 PM
JT thinks SD O'C was fiiiiine back in the day.
Not Ginsburg though. Aw hell naw!
Posted by: Justin Timberlake | January 28, 2008 02:16 PM
2:02, you're dumb.
Posted by: Anon | January 28, 2008 02:26 PM
Supreme Court justices at migh high school hired clerks all the time. It was no big deal.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 02:35 PM
pam is the shit.
Posted by: Anon | January 28, 2008 02:35 PM
Supreme Court justices at my high school hired clerks all the time. It was no big deal.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 02:35 PM
I still cannot get over thomas' TTT love
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 02:35 PM
Wisconsin, GW, Kansas, GMU, Creighton, Rutgers, Pep, GULC = CLS & Chicago < UVA!?!?!
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 02:39 PM
Good for her!
And nice of Prof. Klarman to help her out. I had a class with him while I was at UVA. Brilliant guy.
Posted by: Justin | January 28, 2008 02:39 PM
Pam is awesome. No one is more deserving.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 03:32 PM
2:39 - People go to UVa over CLS and Chicago all the time. It costs about half as much to go there once cost of living is factored in for comparable placement. It shouldn't be that big a shock when it places students in elite positions.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 03:38 PM
UVA's doing well
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 03:42 PM
You would have to be smoking crack to pick UVA over Chicago or Columbia.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 03:46 PM
You would have to be smoking crack to pick UVA over Chicago or Columbia. Or a helluva softball player.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 03:46 PM
Or you may just want to have a life and not be surrounded by a bunch of really anal students. Just a thought.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 03:48 PM
Don't you ever disrespect Creighton again.
Posted by: You know who | January 28, 2008 04:04 PM
You go to UVA over Chicago to avoid d-bags like you.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 04:10 PM
UVA does not cost half of what Chicago or Columbia does for out-of-state students. It cost roughly the same tuition wise and it basically the cost-of-living is equivalent once you factor into it that at UVA you need to buy or lease a car and at Chicago and Columbia you don't need one.
Anyway, UVA, Chicago, and Columbia are all great schools. However, that still does not explain why NYU has had only a handful of clerks in the last few years.
Posted by: Anon | January 28, 2008 04:22 PM
It's cuz NYU sucks. USNews is a TTT ranking.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 04:51 PM
"that still does not explain why NYU has had only a handful of clerks in the last few years"
Maybe one NYU guy screwed it up for everyone else, by being creepy and eating candy canes off of Christmas trees.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 05:21 PM
Penn and Michigan have the same problem. For whatever reason, they don't get to the Supremes even though they are comparable schools.
Posted by: Texas Two Step | January 28, 2008 05:37 PM
Ask Scalia how he feels about NYU law student.
Posted by: NYU or Columbia? | January 28, 2008 06:25 PM
NYU is out because it produces socialist scubags that should be stoned in the public square.
Posted by: NYU is Out Becaus | January 28, 2008 06:36 PM
6:36--NYU students ARE stoned in the public square. Washington Square.
Posted by: anonymous | January 28, 2008 07:09 PM
I actually turned down a 1/2 scholarship to UVa (as an in-state student) to attend Fordham Law on a 5K scholarship . . . New York, New York . . .
Posted by: Fordham 2L | January 28, 2008 07:10 PM
Then you, sir, are a fool.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 09:27 PM
5:37, that's just wrong: Michigan sends a lot more students than Penn
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 10:33 PM
to substantiate the comment above, (according to wikipedia) it's 43 to 20 in Michigan's favor. it'd be more interesting to see how well Michigan compares to UVA (someone else can do that one)
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2008 10:40 PM
"I actually turned down a 1/2 scholarship to UVa (as an in-state student) to attend Fordham Law on a 5K scholarship . . . New York, New York . . ."
What. A. Dumbass.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 29, 2008 12:19 AM
So if someone is a conservative who is smart enough to get into HLS but who chooses to attend a crap school, you are guaranteed a Thomas clerkship. That seems 100 times easier to get than a Scalia clerkship, which requires to be conservative AND top 2% or so at HLS.
I guess if you are a liberal who gets into Yale law but goes to a crap school like Wisconsin, you are also pretty much guaranteed to stand out and eventually get SCOTUS. lol
Posted by: SCOTUS Observer | January 29, 2008 02:14 AM
1:54 writes: "Anyone notice how the liberal judges are the most elitist? Democrats are such hypocrites."
I think the word you're looking for is "meritocratic," not "elitist" -- and a preference for smart clerks obviously isn't inconsistent with political liberalism. And Thomas isn't some sort of egalitarian just because he has a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder, hates the Ivy League, and hires right-wingers who went to second-tier law schools. Also, you'll note that Scalia hired two SLS and two HLS.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 29, 2008 06:59 AM
Wisconsin a crap school. Riiight. And I doubt Klingele went there to be a world beater SC clerk seeing that she was a mother of four before starting law school. Look at the bio that was linked.
Yep, a non-trad (who wasn't on law review) made SC clerk. I can feel the heads exploding.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 29, 2008 09:22 AM
@ 2:14AM:
Wisconsin law is hardly a "crap school". And no, I didn't go there.
What elitist douchebags on this board...
Posted by: you elitist douchebag | January 29, 2008 10:48 AM
This board is rich. Wisconsin is a T1 national. Hating on the Big Ten public schools outside of Michigan (or bashing Michigan as well) is just asinine in general.
Now, Kansas, Pep, Rutgers are T2 and Creighton is borderline Top 100. Those are much more eyepopping. Then again, who is going to tell a SC Justice off? US News? The non H/Y/S people with multiple prior ascending clerkships can probably actually do their job better, so good for them.
And, off 9:22, as Klingele is a non-trad mother of four, I do not think that most of her life was tailored around getting a SC clerkship or a job at Skadden or whatever she picks when she's done, or that she chose Wisconsin for any reason other than that she is from Wisconsin Rapids and went to Wisconsin undergrad.
Mentioned bio, for those of you who should have failed the research part of legal methods:
http://law.wisc.edu/law-in-action/alumni/cklingele.html
Seriously, why flame this person or her school? Because she got your $250K bonus?
Posted by: Anonymous | January 29, 2008 11:39 AM
There are still 8 spots. Michigan/NYU will hopefully get one each.
Isn't it staggering that Chicago is doing this poorly too? Don't they usually have tons? Also, I don't think that Chicago will pick up another spot, there are mainly only liberal spots left...... (Souter, Breyer, O'Connor)
Posted by: Anonymous | January 29, 2008 12:26 PM