Law Clerk Addict

A little more than a month ago we posted about how certain judges require their law clerks to obtain a security clearance before beginning their clerkship. However, as one applicant who emailed us has noted, there is a complete derth of information out there about which judges require one of more of their clerks to obtain a security clearance. Although (top) law schools are usally pretty good at compiling this sort of miscellaneous information, "[l]aw schools do not have good information on this subject as the security clearance is a relatively recent phenomenon." Hence, we received this request:

Can we get a definitive list going on lawclerkaddict about which clerkships require Secret and Top Secret security clearances?

Why does this matter? As our commenter notes:

You can be denied these clearances for relatively innocuous things like extensive foreign contacts/travel, psychiatric treatment, a DUI when you were younger, etc. It would be helpful to generate a list of clerkships that require this clearance (especially since many equally good/interesting clerkships do not require clearance).

Unfortunately, because this issue is so new, we don't have any information on it either, except to note that Senior Judge Thomas Hogan (D.D.C.) stated in his OSCAR profile last year that one of his clerks required a security clearance. Based on our previous post, it seems that most of these positions are likely found in the D.C. Circuit, 4th Circuit, D.D.C., and E.D. Va. However, one could also reasonably speculate that the judges who have been appointed to the FISA Court (and to a lesser extent, the FISA Court of Review) might require at least one clerk to get a security clearance to assist with those matters.

Of course, all of the above (except for Judge Hogan) is pure speculation and not a substitute for reliable information. So, if you are aware of any judges who require one or all of their law clerks to obtain a security clearance before starting their clerkship, please post a comment about it or send an email to lawfirmaddict@gmail.com so that we may (hopefully) develop a reliable list for future applicants.