Two
flavors
of
federal
clerkship
have
emerged
at
Harvard
Law.
One
based
on
accumulating
consistent
academic
success
across
a
couple
years
worth
of
legal
education,
and
another
based
on
demonstrating
a
firm
ideological
commitment
in
the
student’s
1L
year.
As
the
Harvard
Crimson
reports,
moderate
and
liberal
judges
follow
the
former
path,
selecting
rising
3Ls
based
on
law
school
resumes,
while
America’s
most
conservative
judges
are
hiring
students
as
early
as
their
first
semester
based
on
Federalist
Society
bona
fides
and
vetting
from
fellow
traveler
professors
or
older
students.
So,
in
news
that
isn’t
shocking
in
the
least,
the
same
people
who
complain
about
“DEI”
are
the
ones
hiring
based
on
networking
connections
without
regard
to
academic
merit.
It’s
the
most
powerful
affirmative
action
program
in
education,
you
just
have
to
be
the
right
kind
of
diverse.
“My
understanding
is
that
there
were
students
in
my
section
who,
through
Fed
Soc,
had
clerkships
lined
up
the
fall
of
1L,”
Kaufman
said.
“There
is
no
liberal
student
for
whom
that’s
the
case.”
“Fall
of
1L.”
As
in,
“no
exams
yet.”
But
if
a
student
has
dutifully
done
their
part
to
enthusiastically
cheer
the
speaker
discussing
why
America
needs
fewer
minorities,
you
might
just
earn
a
coveted
clerkship
before
the
class
reaches
Palsgraf.
Or,
hell,
maybe
before
the
class
finds
the
bookstore.
Judges
breaking
away
from
“the
plan”
to
recruit
students
earlier
in
their
law
school
careers
isn’t
new.
Every
attempt
to
reach
a
mutually
agreed
upon
schedule
for
clerkship
applications
has
devolved
into
a
free-for-all
as
some
judges
defect
to
secure
first
dibs
on
the
talent
pool.
But
the
ideological
divide
is
new,
and
reflects
shifting
priorities
as
conservative
judges
increasingly
prioritize
philosophy
and
connections
over
scholarly
success.
And
yet…
is
anyone
surprised?
Over
the
course
of
two
Trump
terms,
the
GOP
has
deprioritized
qualifications
and
experience.
This
isn’t
to
say
that
all
of
Trump’s
nominees
for
the
bench
are
unqualified
—
many
are
highly
competent
—
but
as
the
nominations
mounted,
the
willingness
to
tab
unqualified
nominees
grew.
Now
they’re
rejecting
the
ABA’s
role
in
evaluating
judicial
picks
and
putting
up
nominees
for
trial
judge
who’ve
never
run
a
trial.
In
his
second
term,
Trump
has
favored
individuals
personally
loyal
to
him
over
any
other
qualification.
When
the
judiciary
prioritizes
ideology
over
qualifications,
of
course
the
clerkships
will
follow.
Mason
R.
Laney,
a
Federalist
Society
member
interviewed
by
the
Crimson
notes:
“We
vet
each
other,
because
we
know
each
other
very
well,”
Laney
said.“Students
end
up
with
a
lot
of
power,
where
judges
will
reach
out,
and
they’ll
say,
‘Is
this
person
somebody
we
should
reach
out
to?’”
he
added.Those
recommendations
can
shape
hiring
decisions
well
before
the
timeline
begins.“Students
around
will
say,
‘Hey,
they’re
solid,
conservative,
they’re
very
much
in
Fed
Soc,’”
Laney
said.
Federal
judges
placing
clerkship
decisions
in
the
hands
of
3Ls
delivering
vibechecks
is
a
damning
indictment.
It
was
bad
enough
when
judges
hired
the
nephews
of
their
country
club
friends,
now
they’re
hiring
based
on
the
considered
judgment
of
kids
who
aren’t
old
enough
to
rent
a
car.
“One
of
them
requires
a
meritocratic
approach
and
a
lot
of
hard
work,”
HLS
student
Jackson
S.
Faulkner
said.
“You
have
to
bank
on
things
way
later
on
in
the
process
that
are
not
available
to
the
other
side,
which
is
looking
for
ideological
adherence,
and
then
they
will
train
you
to
be
a
clerk.”
This
is
a
generous
read,
but
what
“training”
is
happening
when
the
judge
doesn’t
know
what
they’re
doing
either?
And
even
if
the
judge
does
have
ample
experience
for
their
job,
what
faith
can
one
have
in
their
mentorship
—
or
judgment
—
if
they’ve
blown
off
grades
to
hire
a
student
based
on
how
well
they’ve
impressed
the
3Ls?
Worse,
this
is
a
cycle
likely
to
compound
upon
itself
as
tomorrow’s
judges
are
picked
from
today’s
clerks.
In
some
cases
literally,
like
when
Trump
was
elevating
clerks
to
the
federal
bench
only
a
term
removed
from
their
clerkship.
When
he
was
the
dean
of
NYU,
John
Sexton
would
tell
the
story
that
after
clerking
for
Warren
Burger,
the
Chief
Justice
would
quip
about
needing
to
always
have
one
“communist
clerk.”
But
when
judges
start
to
view
the
clerkship
process
as
less
about
untangling
thorny
legal
issues
—
AI
can
do
all
the
disingenuous
originalist
reverse
engineering
anyway
—
and
more
about
building
out
the
conservative
legal
network,
they
don’t
need
to
be
challenged
in
chambers.
Clerks
don’t
need
to
be
academic
superstars,
as
long
as
they
can
be
reliably
groomed
into
future
branches
of
the
judge’s
“coaching
tree.”
There’s
no
easy
way
to
do
this,
but
law
school
rankings
(and,
more
to
the
point,
prospective
students)
really
should
try
to
take
this
two-tiered
approach
into
account.
There
are
definitely
institutions
spamming
right-wing
clerkships
like
this
and
using
those
numbers
to
artificially
fluff
their
rankings.
If
a
law
school
takes
a
significant
jump
in
the
rankings
along
with
a
sizable
bump
in
its
clerkship
figures,
take
a
long,
hard
look
at
WHICH
judges
are
driving
that
boom.
If
it’s
a
bunch
of
Fifth
Circuit
judges
hiring
clerks
in
their
first
year
of
school,
be
very
leery
of
that
resume.
This
is
also
why
the
employers
who
haven’t
already
upped
their
scrutiny
of
past
clerkships
need
a
reality
check.
When
federal
judges
ranked
not
qualified
are
“training”
clerks
they
picked
up
before
first
semester
exams,
that’s
not
the
same
signal
of
future
success
that
the
industry
relied
upon
for
decades.
A
clerkship
simply
isn’t
enough
anymore,
and
employers
need
to
develop
their
own
two-track
system
for
evaluating
the
quality
of
the
clerkship
experience.
Until
there’s
more
transparency
about
this,
networking
with
conservatives
remains
a
law
school
cheat
code.
Who
needs
meritocracy
when
you
can
get
beers
with
FedSoc
3Ls?
Conservative
Judges’
Early
Hiring
Fuels
Two-Track
Clerkship
System
at
Harvard
Law
[Harvard
Crimson]
Earlier:
Donald
Trump’s
Devaluation
Of
The
Federal
Clerkship
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Patrice is
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