It’s
time
for
an
update
on
Above
the
Law’s
favorite
famous-for-the-wrong-reasons
attorney:
Crystal
Clanton!
Clanton
is,
on
paper,
exactly
the
kind
of
young
lawyer
who
is
supposed
to
represent
the
best
of
the
profession.
She
landed
a
series
of
extraordinarily
prestigious
clerkships:
first
with
Judge
Corey
Maze
of
the
Northern
District
of
Alabama,
then
with
Eleventh
Circuit
Judge
William
Pryor,
and
ultimately
with
Supreme
Court
Justice
Clarence
Thomas.
That’s
a
golden
ticket
path
most
law
students
would
kill
for.
The
only
problem
is,
Clanton
was
very
famously
fired
from
the
far-right
Turning
Point
USA
when
a
racist
text
she
sent
coworkers
became
public.
That’s
right,
Clanton
used
to
work
at
conservative
student
group
Turning
Point
USA.
But
in
2017, reports
surfaced
that
she
texted
coworkers,
“I
HATE
BLACK
PEOPLE.
Like
fuck
them
all
. . .
I
hate
blacks.
End
of
story.”
Despite
this
notoriety,
this
was
far
from
the
end
of
Clanton’s
story.
She
bounced
back
with a
job
with
Ginni
Thomas (Clarence’s
wife),
even
moving
in
with
the
Thomases
for
a
time. She
then
was
admitted
to George
Mason
University’s
ASS
Law,
then
onto
those
clerkships
(and,
of
course,
the
formal
investigation
for
hiring
someone
with
such
a
questionable
reputation,
which
ultimately
found
there
was no
misconduct on
the
part
of
the
judges
who
hired
Clanton).
Now
that
Clanton’s
Supreme
Court
clerkship
with
Justice
Thomas
has
wrapped
up,
curiosity
has
turned
to
the
obvious
question:
where
does
someone
like
this
land
next?
David
Lat
found
the
answer,
and
it
is
exactly
what
you’d
expect.
Crystal
Clanton
is
now
an
attorney
at
the
America
First
Legal
Foundation
(AFL),
the
aggressively
partisan
conservative
nonprofit
law
firm
co-founded
in
2021
by
Gene
Hamilton
and
Stephen
Miller
shortly
after
the
end
of
the
first
Trump
administration.
Hamilton
is
back
at
AFL
after
a
six-month
White
House
stint
and
serves
as
its
president.
Miller,
meanwhile,
has
returned
to
the
White
House
(at
least
for
now),
where
he
continues
his
specialty
of
turning
President
Trump’s
worst
impulses
into
reality.
AFL
prides
itself
on
being
combative,
provocative,
and
unapologetically
ideological.
As
Lat
noted,
it’s
an
organization
that
“delights
in
triggering
or
trolling
the
left.”
And
one
of
the
cases
that
Clanton
has
already
appeared
in
on
behalf
of
AFL
is
an
anti-trans
rights
case,
because
of
course.
The
trajectory
here
is
depressingly
coherent.
Fired
for
offensive
texts.
Rehired
into
the
Thomas
orbit.
Ushered
through
elite
clerkships.
Landed
at
an
outfit
built
by
the
architects
of
some
of
the
most
punitive
immigration
and
civil
rights
rollbacks
of
the
Trump
era.
Clanton’s
career
is
a
reminder
that,
in
some
corners
of
the
conservative
legal
movement,
far
from
being
a
dealbreaker,
a
racist
scandal
can
actually
be
a
résumé
enhancer.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].