One of if not the most well-known sentences from a Supreme Court opinion comes in the form of John Marshall’s line in Marbury v. Madison, “It is emphatically the duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.” This short sentence signified a power grab whereby the Supreme Court took on judicial review…
Tag: Judge Sutton
The New Clerks in Town
When confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1962, Justice Byron White became the first justice ever to have clerked for a previous justice as White clerked for Chief Justice Vinson in 1946. This was more than 60 years after the first Supreme Court clerk was hired by Justice Gray in 1882 and more than 150…
Loud Voices From Below
The Supreme Court only takes a small fraction of cases petitioned to it every year and there is no perfect formula for ensuring a case makes its way to the Court. There are, however, several signals that can help a case along the way. Much of what matters has to do with uniformity in case…
A Formula For Supreme Court Clerkships? Harvard and Garland
Is there a formula to becoming a Supreme Court clerk? Perhaps a certain pedigree? How about a prior federal clerkship? The short answer to all three questions is yes. At very least, going to a certain school and working for a specific judge significantly enhance your chances. Much of the discussion surrounding Supreme Court clerkships has centered…
Empirical SCOTUS 