Law Clerk Addict's Blog
* The Associated Press reports on President Barack Obama's efforts to transform the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
* Affected by the economic downturn? Justice Sonia Sotomayor is also a victim.
* Is the Supreme Court irrelevant? One law professor thinks so.
* Justice Clarence Thomas comments on his silence during oral arguments.
* Eleven attorneys, judges, and law professors are hoping to replace Judge Terence Evans (7th Cir.), who will be assuming senior status in January 2010.
There's been relatively little on the judicial nomination front (outside of the Supreme Court, that is), but here are a few items of note:
* Federal public defender Jeffrey Viken, one of President Obama's nominees to the District of South Dakota, had his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week.
* University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias discusses a vacanacy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that has gone unfilled for more than 15 years.
* The St. Petersburg Times provides an overview of the very slow pace of President Obama's judicial nominations, with a particular focus on the impact on the Middle District of Florida, which has called in 20 judges from other district courts across the country to help manage a heavy backlog of civil cases.
This site has largely avoided discussing the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor (2d Cir.) to the United States Supreme Court, if only because there are numerous other websites providing far more coverage. However, those interested in the Sotomayor nomination or Sotomayor's confirmation hearing might find this list of primary sources compiled by the now-ironically-named ConfirmThem useful. The resources include not only documents Judge Sotomayor has submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but materials related to her previous Second Circuit and Southern District of New York nominations as well.
As expected, the close of the 2008-09 Supreme Court term has resulted in a flurry of news articles about the Court. Below are some recent articles about the United States Supreme Court that are worth noting but are too short to justify full posts of their own:
* The L.A. Times reports that the Ninth Circuit is no longer the most reversed geographic circuit, at least this term.
* As everyone knows by now, yesterday marked Justice David Souter's official last day as an active justice.
* Chief Justice John Roberts believes that appellate briefs have become far too long.
* The New Yorker pokes fun at Justice Clarence Thomas's history of being silent during oral arguments.
Below are a few interesting articles about federal appellate courts that are too short to justify their own posts:
* The American Constitution Society held an interesting appellate judge panel on the topics of caseload, attorney quality, and judicial pay.
* Where will Supreme Court justices spend their summer vacation? The Legal Times has the answer.
* Speaking of the Supreme Court, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made a rare appearance on the David Letterman show the other night to promote her new book.
President Obama has officially nominated District Judge Thomas Greenaway, Jr., (D.N.J.) to the Third Circuit seat held by Justice Samuel Alito prior to his elevation, and has also nominated District Judge Beverly Martin (N.D. Ga.) to the Eleventh Circuit. The official White House press release, which contains additional information about the nominees, is available here. Those following judicial nominations will recognize that these two nominations are consistent with President Obama's previous appellate nominations, which have all entailed elevating sitting judges to higher courts.
Clerkship applicants should note that both Judge Greenaway and Judge Martin are (or soon will be) taking applications for 2010-11 clerkships, so those interested in a federal appellate clerkship might benefit from submitting applications to them now since, given the Democratic tilt of the Senate, both nominees will almost certainly be elevated to their respective circuit courts prior to 2010.
Today's New York Times has a very interesting article discussing the relationship between Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor (2d Cir.) and Judge Jose Cabranes (2d Cir.), which started twenty years before they became colleagues on the Second Circuit.
Ever wonder which United States Supreme Court justices are living the high life and which are living paycheck to paycheck? Clerquette has the scoop at Underneath Their Robes.
It looks like the $250,000 bonuses biglaw doled out to outgoing United States Supreme Court law clerks may now be a thing of the past, thanks to the economic recession.
As federal court watchers know, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit currently has two vacancies, one of which has been unfilled since 2005 (and created upon the elevation of John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court) and the other recently opening up after Judge Raymond Randolph took senior status in November 2008. While many continue to advocate that President Obama re-nominate failed Bush nominee Peter Keisler to one of the vacant seats (see, e.g., here, here, and here), a recent report from the Indianapolis Times blog indicates that Obama may be vetting Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan for a spot on the D.C. Circuit.
What do we know about Justice Sullivan? Here are some basic tidbits from his Indiana Supreme Court biography:
Frank Sullivan, Jr., was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court effective November 1, 1993, by Governor Evan Bayh. Sullivan came to the state's highest court with a background in government service and private law practice. He served as Indiana State Budget Director from 1989 through 1992. Prior to state service, he practiced law in the Indianapolis office of Barnes & Thornburg.
Sullivan is a native of South Bend. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College (A.B. cum laude in 1972), Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington (J.D. magna cum laude in 1982), and the University of Virginia School of Law (LL.M. in 2001).
Because retiring Justice David Souter chose not to hire any law clerks for the 2009-10 term, there are no jobless Supreme Court clerks for soon-to-be-Justice Sonia Sotomayor (2d Cir.) to inherit (provided that she isn't filibustered). Like most federal judges, Judge Sotomayor has already hired a full complement of law clerks for the 2009-10, but since it is almost unheard of for someone to clerk directly for the Supreme Court without prior clerkship experience, it is unlikely that these individuals will be joining Judge Sotomayor at One First Street this fall. Given that President Obama has been rather dilatory with judicial nominations and his only pending nomination to the Second Circuit is District Judge Gerard Lynch (S.D.N.Y.)--who has 2009-10 clerks of his own lined up--it is not likely that all of the 2009-10 clerks Judge Sotomayor hired last fall can readily get placements with other Second Circuit judges. Given the rather unique situation, it will be interesting to see what happens to these already-hired clerks in the coming months, and who will clerk for Judge Sotomayor this fall.
Numerous media outlets are reporting that President Barack Obama will announce at 10AM that he will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor (2d Cir.) to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
The Pueblo Chieftain reports that District Judge Christine Arguello (D. Colo.), a protege of former Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush and only confirmed in October 2008, has been asked by the Obama administration if she would be interested in being considered to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.
For some commentary as to Judge Arguello's chances of being nominated, see this post by Adam Brinkley of Race42012.
Senator Ben Nelson (D-Ne.) announced this morning on Fox News Sunday that he may join in a filibuster of President Barack Obama's upcoming nominee to the Supreme Court. A video of Senator Nelson's comments is available here.
Below are a few random links relating to state supreme courts that are too short to justify posts of their own:
* Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) has submitted a letter to President Barack Obama requesting that the President consider nominating Dana Fabe, the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, to replace retiring United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
* Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer offered some insight about the benefits of state court clerkships at a recent speech at the University of Southern California School of Law.
* South Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Kaye Hearn is virtually guaranteed to become the newest member of the South Carolina Supreme Court and the second female justice in that court's history.
Judicial conservatives have lost one of their most prominent and popular federal judges. In a stunning, unexpected announcement, Judge Michael McConnell (10th Cir.), one of the brightest, influential, and most academically accomplished federal judges (and on everyone's short list for a Supreme Court nomination) will resign from the bench effective August 31, 2009 in order to take a position on the Stanford Law School faculty. The official press release from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is available here.
Since we are in the midst of the traditional application season for United States Supreme Court clerkships for the 2010-11 term, I thought I would link to this very comprehensive post about how to apply for a SCOTUS clerkship.
Not surprisingly, speculation already abounds as to who President Barack Obama will select to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Here are some highlights from around the blogosphere:
* Orin Kerr guesses it will be Solicitor General and former Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan, but he would prefer sitting judges Merrick Garland (D.C. Cir.) or Diane Wood (7th Cir.).
* Marc Randazza would like to see Alex Kozinski (9th Cir.), law professor (and former Kozinski clerk) Eugene Volokh, or former Jenner & Block partner Donald B. Verrilli.
* Scott Greenfield is hoping for Sonia Sotomayor (2d Cir.).
* Last but not least, several forum contributors (see, e.g., here and here) are fans of Kim McLane Wardlow (9th Cir.).
As I noted last night, this should make for a very interesting summer!
Mere hours after the AP alluded to the possibility, Supreme Court Justice David Souter has apparently confirmed his intent to retire at the end of the 2009-10 term.
Needless to say, this should make for a very interesting summer!
The Associated Press reports today that Supreme Court Justice David Souter has still not hired law clerks for the 2009-10 term. James Perkins at the Committee for Justice blog correctly notes that although Souter is usually late to hire, "this is really late, even for him."
It should go without saying that SCOTUS retirements are notoriously hard to predict, and for all we know Souter is getting a good laugh out of this. Of course, it also goes without saying that it would be great if you could email Law Clerk Addict at lawfirmaddict@gmail.com if you have any information about whether Justice Souter (or any other judge) is interviewing or hiring law clerks for any term.