Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law ClerkSince the hiring of the first Supreme Court law clerk by Associate Justice Horace Gray in the late 1880s, court observers and the general public have demonstrated a consistent fascination with law clerks and the influence—real or imagined—that they wield over judicial decisions. While initially each Supreme Court justice hired a single clerk, today's justices can hire up to four new law school graduates. The justices have taken advantage of this resource, and in modern times law clerks have been given greater job duties and more responsibility. The increased use of law clerks has spawned a controversy about the role they play, and commentators have suggested that liberal or conservative clerks influence their justices' decision making. The influence debate is but one piece of a more important and largely unexamined puzzle regarding the hiring and utilization of Supreme Court law clerks. Courtiers of the Marble Palace is the first systematic examination of the "clerkship institution"—the web of formal and informal norms and rules surrounding the hiring and utilization of law clerks by the individual justices on the United States Supreme Court. Todd Peppers provides an unprecedented view into the work lives of and day-to-day relationships between justices and their clerks; relationships that in some cases have extended to daily breakfasts, games of competitive basketball and tennis, and occasional holiday celebrations. Through personal interviews with fifty-three former clerks and correspondence with an additional ninety, as well as personal interviews with a number of non-clerks, including Justice Antonin Scalia, Peppers has amassed a body of information that reveals the true inner-workings of the clerkship institution. With a Foreword by Professor Robert M. O'Neil of the University of Virginia School of Law, former President of the University of Virginia and former law clerk for Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. |
Contents
A Portrait of the Supreme Court Law Clerk | 17 |
The Law Clerk as Stenographer | 38 |
The Law Clerk as Legal Assistant | 83 |
Copyright | |
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Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court ... Todd C. Peppers No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
assistant Associate Justice attorney Blackmun Brandeis Brennan Burger Burton Cardozo chambers Charles Clerking for Justice clerkship institution clerkship model confidentiality correspondence with author court judge Court law clerks David discuss Douglas draft opinions Earl Warren Felix Frankfurter former clerks Former law clerk Fortas Frank Murphy Frankfurter's Ginsburg Harlan Fiske Stone Harvard Law School hired Holmes Horace Gray Hughes Hugo Black Ibid ideology interview with author Jackson James job duties John John Marshall Harlan judicial Justice Black Justice Harlan justice's Kaufman law clerks prepare Law Review Law School graduate McReynolds memo memorandum Michael Murphy opinion drafts Papers percent petitions political practices prepare cert recalls Reed Rehnquist Court review cert Richard Robert secretary selection served stenographic clerk Stephen Stevens Stewart Stone Supreme Court justices Supreme Court law Taft Thomas Thurgood Marshall tice tion U.S. Supreme Court University Vinson Washington Post White Whittaker William William Rehnquist Yale Law School York young
References to this book
Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court: An Empirical Approach Lawrence Wrightsman Limited preview - 2008 |