Sotomayor's Law Clerks

Like some of her recent predecessors, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has hired two law clerks who have already clerked for other justices. The Court today released the names of the current term's law clerks, including these four for Sotomayor: Jeremy Marwell, Eloise Pasachoff, Lindsey Powell and Robert Yablon. That's two males and two females, with other demographics unconfirmed. The names were first ferreted out by the Above the Law blog on Tuesday.

Yablon and Powell are the veterans, having just completed clerkships for Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens, respectively. When justices join the Court, they find it useful to bring in clerks who already know the Court's intricate and sometimes baffling procedures and quirks. 

Pasachoff clerked most recently for Sotomayor's friend and 2nd Circuit colleague Robert Katzmann, who was active in supporting Sotomayor's nomination to the high court. Marwell clerked for D.C. Circuit Judge Stephen Williams and is an alum of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel. Before coming to the high court, Yablon clerked for 9th Circuit Judge William Fletcher, and Powell -- apparently no relation to the late justice Lewis Powell -- clerked for D.C. Circuit judge Merrick Garland. With the exception of Williams, the "feeder" judges for her clerks are usually viewed as liberals.

Comments

[EdA]

For Alex, who seems not to have read the article,

"When justices join the Court, they find it useful to bring in clerks who already know the Court's intricate and sometimes baffling procedures and quirks."

[joeyt]

Okay, how many of her clerks are black - how many Latino - how many of Ginsburg's clerks are black or Latino. Based on their votes in the Ricci case, their clerks ahould proportionately represent the demographics of the population, right? Hmmmm.

[borisjimski]

It speaks volumes about her as a person? Maybe she asked them to and they didn't want to move to DC where they'd have to put up with such unfounded bung as yours every day. How do you know that isn't the case?

[Alex]

Isn't it sad that she didn't "elevate" any of her former clerks. It speaks volumes about her as a person.