TRENDS: The Influence of Personalized Knowledge at the Supreme Court: How (Some) Former Law Clerks Have the Inside Track

When arguing at the U.S. Supreme Court, former High Court law clerks enjoy significant influence over their former justices. Our analysis of forty years of judicial votes reveals that an attorney who formerly clerked for a justice is 16 percent more likely to capture that justice’s vote than an othe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political research quarterly 2021-12, Vol.74 (4), p.795-807
Main Authors: Black, Ryan C., Owens, Ryan J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attorneys
Clerical personnel
Customization
Justice
Law
Law clerks
Litigation
Supreme courts
Voting
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Summary:When arguing at the U.S. Supreme Court, former High Court law clerks enjoy significant influence over their former justices. Our analysis of forty years of judicial votes reveals that an attorney who formerly clerked for a justice is 16 percent more likely to capture that justice’s vote than an otherwise identical attorney who never clerked. What is more, an attorney who formerly clerked for a justice is 14 to 16 percent more likely to capture that justice’s vote than an otherwise identical attorney who previously clerked for a different justice. Former clerk influence is substantial, targeted, and appears to come from clerks’ personalized information about their justices. These results answer an important empirical question about the role of attorneys while raising normative concerns over fairness in litigation.
ISSN:1065-9129
1938-274X
DOI:10.1177/1065912920948138