The appellate benches have been thoroughly packed with preening ideologues. Give me trial judges with a decade or more experience running jury trials over a bunch of fedsoc dorks barely a few years out of law review and their court clerkships
February 6, 2026 at 10:19 PM
The appellate benches have been thoroughly packed with preening ideologues. Give me trial judges with a decade or more experience running jury trials over a bunch of fedsoc dorks barely a few years out of law review and their court clerkships
if you are interviewing for clerkships, i recommend paying attention to how current clerks treat you, talk about your judge--and how the judge treats the interview. it can tell you a lot
February 6, 2026 at 2:07 PM
if you are interviewing for clerkships, i recommend paying attention to how current clerks treat you, talk about your judge--and how the judge treats the interview. it can tell you a lot
Let's not forget this is also how Amy Chua treated female students seeking court clerkships. Including her own daughter.
February 5, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Let's not forget this is also how Amy Chua treated female students seeking court clerkships. Including her own daughter.
Abusive professors (and both Chua and Rubenfeld are abusive in their own ways) demonstrate that abusers cultivate allies strategically.
They helped a lot of law students, classmates of mine, secure plum clerkships. Those students not only felt a debt but also genuine loyalty to both of them.
They helped a lot of law students, classmates of mine, secure plum clerkships. Those students not only felt a debt but also genuine loyalty to both of them.
I agree with this, but, and this is important, I really also wish we had listened to the law students who spoke out about his sexual harassment, and about his wife (Amy Chua) enabling and threatening those who also spoke out about it.
February 5, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Abusive professors (and both Chua and Rubenfeld are abusive in their own ways) demonstrate that abusers cultivate allies strategically.
They helped a lot of law students, classmates of mine, secure plum clerkships. Those students not only felt a debt but also genuine loyalty to both of them.
They helped a lot of law students, classmates of mine, secure plum clerkships. Those students not only felt a debt but also genuine loyalty to both of them.
This is important for men to say. I have interviewed candidates for clerkships and associate positions and in finance. I have written some letters - not many.
This is not how men behave. This is not what I have been asked. This is not what I have said.
This is not how men behave. This is not what I have been asked. This is not what I have said.
I have been writing letters of recommendation for just shy of thirty years— 17 students this year alone— in ratios that more or less track the majority-women population of liberal arts students.
Obviously I have never commented on a student's looks... and no recipient has ever called me to ask.
Obviously I have never commented on a student's looks... and no recipient has ever called me to ask.
February 5, 2026 at 9:36 PM
This is important for men to say. I have interviewed candidates for clerkships and associate positions and in finance. I have written some letters - not many.
This is not how men behave. This is not what I have been asked. This is not what I have said.
This is not how men behave. This is not what I have been asked. This is not what I have said.
Remember Yale prof Amy Chua used the same justification ("keep[ing] the potential boss's habits in mind") for telling female law students to dress "model-like" when applying for clerkships with Brett Kavanaugh (JD Yale). Chua's husband (Yale prof) was censured for sexual impropriety with students.
Amy Chua denies telling female students to be 'model-like' for Brett Kavanaugh
Amy Chua rejects claims she advised students applying for clerkships with supreme court nominee on looks
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Remember Yale prof Amy Chua used the same justification ("keep[ing] the potential boss's habits in mind") for telling female law students to dress "model-like" when applying for clerkships with Brett Kavanaugh (JD Yale). Chua's husband (Yale prof) was censured for sexual impropriety with students.
Am I remembering correctly that Amy Chua allegedly did similar aesthetic curation of law students, like sending brunettes interested in clerkships to Brett Kavanaugh?
Yale prof David Gelernter defends his letter urging Epstein to hire "v small goodlooking blonde" student by saying that he was "keep[ing] the potential boss's habits in mind."
This creep shouldn't be allowed anywhere near students.
yaledailynews.com/articles/gel...
This creep shouldn't be allowed anywhere near students.
yaledailynews.com/articles/gel...
February 5, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Am I remembering correctly that Amy Chua allegedly did similar aesthetic curation of law students, like sending brunettes interested in clerkships to Brett Kavanaugh?
For Brett Kavanaugh clerkships! Just adding for additional context of how deep (high?) and pervasive this is.
February 5, 2026 at 6:49 PM
For Brett Kavanaugh clerkships! Just adding for additional context of how deep (high?) and pervasive this is.
This is a more extreme version of Yale Law prof Amy Chua's advice to female students interviewing for clerkships w/Brett Kavanaugh to wear skirts, not pants, to their interviews.
Chua's husband, also a Yale Law prof, is also a notorious sex pest. And Chua's daughter clerked w/Kavanaugh.
Chua's husband, also a Yale Law prof, is also a notorious sex pest. And Chua's daughter clerked w/Kavanaugh.
This is the Yale professor's explanation for why he described the physical attractiveness of a student in an email to Epstein. He explicitly says he regrets nothing about their association.
Again, I'm so happy Yale hired David Brooks to restore trust.
yaledailynews.com/articles/gel...
Again, I'm so happy Yale hired David Brooks to restore trust.
yaledailynews.com/articles/gel...
February 5, 2026 at 5:33 PM
This is a more extreme version of Yale Law prof Amy Chua's advice to female students interviewing for clerkships w/Brett Kavanaugh to wear skirts, not pants, to their interviews.
Chua's husband, also a Yale Law prof, is also a notorious sex pest. And Chua's daughter clerked w/Kavanaugh.
Chua's husband, also a Yale Law prof, is also a notorious sex pest. And Chua's daughter clerked w/Kavanaugh.
Agree 100%, and the data bears it out. Younger, whiter, fewer from T14 law schools, fewer AUSAs / BigLaw alums, but more with clerkships with far-right judges and justices and experience in Red State SG offices fighting on the front lines of the culture wars.
I want to emphasize how radically Trump's second-term judical appointments are going to change the American legal system. These are not the standard Ivy League FedSoc guys. They are election-denying freaks who earned Trump's favor because they are willing to say what he wants to hear.
Trump Is Building a Federal Judiciary of Delusional, Cowardly Loyalists
Judges have to decide cases based on facts. For Trump judges, the only facts that matter are the ones that he authorizes them to believe.
ballsandstrikes.org
February 5, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Agree 100%, and the data bears it out. Younger, whiter, fewer from T14 law schools, fewer AUSAs / BigLaw alums, but more with clerkships with far-right judges and justices and experience in Red State SG offices fighting on the front lines of the culture wars.
was telling someone else that i don't know anyone who landed an AUSA gig (prior to Trump 2.0) who didn't either have multiple federal clerkships or spent several years doing state-level prosecution or crim defense. the background check alone takes months also, so we are clearly no longer doing those
February 4, 2026 at 1:53 AM
was telling someone else that i don't know anyone who landed an AUSA gig (prior to Trump 2.0) who didn't either have multiple federal clerkships or spent several years doing state-level prosecution or crim defense. the background check alone takes months also, so we are clearly no longer doing those
It was one of the most coveted jobs on the market. More some than some appellate clerkships.
January 31, 2026 at 11:28 PM
It was one of the most coveted jobs on the market. More some than some appellate clerkships.
I think the success criteria on this is that FedSoc on a legal resume, regardless of the clerkships it gets you, is a one-way ticket to the circular file at most white shoe law firms
January 31, 2026 at 9:19 PM
I think the success criteria on this is that FedSoc on a legal resume, regardless of the clerkships it gets you, is a one-way ticket to the circular file at most white shoe law firms
AUSA jobs used to be almost like “golden tickets” (like clerkships for federal judges) when I was in law school for those interested in careers in litigation.
And here we are …
Guessing they are now scraping bottom of the barrel (from garbage law schools)
And here we are …
Guessing they are now scraping bottom of the barrel (from garbage law schools)
Utterly pathetic and historically unprecedented.
January 31, 2026 at 8:04 PM
AUSA jobs used to be almost like “golden tickets” (like clerkships for federal judges) when I was in law school for those interested in careers in litigation.
And here we are …
Guessing they are now scraping bottom of the barrel (from garbage law schools)
And here we are …
Guessing they are now scraping bottom of the barrel (from garbage law schools)
@thelap.bsky.social is having one of those huge Clerkships Database subscriber days.
Maybe ppl read my latest @abovethelaw.com article + understand how hazardous these clerkships can be, how limited options are for mistreated clerks, + why they should avoid the abusive ones in the first place.
Maybe ppl read my latest @abovethelaw.com article + understand how hazardous these clerkships can be, how limited options are for mistreated clerks, + why they should avoid the abusive ones in the first place.
January 31, 2026 at 7:19 PM
@thelap.bsky.social is having one of those huge Clerkships Database subscriber days.
Maybe ppl read my latest @abovethelaw.com article + understand how hazardous these clerkships can be, how limited options are for mistreated clerks, + why they should avoid the abusive ones in the first place.
Maybe ppl read my latest @abovethelaw.com article + understand how hazardous these clerkships can be, how limited options are for mistreated clerks, + why they should avoid the abusive ones in the first place.
It is not. Law schools want their students to get prestigious clerkships with far-right federal judges and prestigious jobs with the federal government after graduation. This is particularly true for the elite law schools.
January 30, 2026 at 3:06 PM
It is not. Law schools want their students to get prestigious clerkships with far-right federal judges and prestigious jobs with the federal government after graduation. This is particularly true for the elite law schools.
there are probably smart ideas out there for reforming judicial clerkships from being patronage and clout/access-chasing, but Idk. The role such a one-on-one thing, like the clerk is a specific judge's personal employee/apprentice/intern, so the judges are very protective of it
January 28, 2026 at 8:09 PM
there are probably smart ideas out there for reforming judicial clerkships from being patronage and clout/access-chasing, but Idk. The role such a one-on-one thing, like the clerk is a specific judge's personal employee/apprentice/intern, so the judges are very protective of it
The one time I removed an interest on my resume was way back when I was applying for clerkships in NYC. I removed "playing bridge" because it had been a few years and I was rusty and I did NOT want Judge Kearse to read that. (Her Wikipedia entry has "Legal Career" and "Bridge Career" parts!)
January 28, 2026 at 3:53 AM
The one time I removed an interest on my resume was way back when I was applying for clerkships in NYC. I removed "playing bridge" because it had been a few years and I was rusty and I did NOT want Judge Kearse to read that. (Her Wikipedia entry has "Legal Career" and "Bridge Career" parts!)
I assume his wife is just as calculating as he. She did do two clerkships with extremists on the Supreme Court.
January 28, 2026 at 3:23 AM
I assume his wife is just as calculating as he. She did do two clerkships with extremists on the Supreme Court.
It made a 19-year-old feel like he’d conquered the world, though, and began a process for so many that led to clerkships, congressional offices, think tanks, and campaigns. 2/🧵
January 27, 2026 at 7:28 PM
It made a 19-year-old feel like he’d conquered the world, though, and began a process for so many that led to clerkships, congressional offices, think tanks, and campaigns. 2/🧵
Yeah from what I understand from classmates who met him to vie for clerkships he's very conservative but not at all MAGA. That was like a decade ago so things may have changed but I doubt it. Esp given the MAGA disdain & hostility for ppl with disabilities.
January 27, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Yeah from what I understand from classmates who met him to vie for clerkships he's very conservative but not at all MAGA. That was like a decade ago so things may have changed but I doubt it. Esp given the MAGA disdain & hostility for ppl with disabilities.
'Carrying a child is incredibly taxing — physically, mentally and emotionally — especially for someone with three young children. We imagine the stress compounds for someone also navigating extraordinary scrutiny and public attention [that comes with being married to a lying fascist].'
January 27, 2026 at 11:08 AM
'Carrying a child is incredibly taxing — physically, mentally and emotionally — especially for someone with three young children. We imagine the stress compounds for someone also navigating extraordinary scrutiny and public attention [that comes with being married to a lying fascist].'
A few things here:
1. "Usha Vance strikes us as someone who..." is a wild thing to say without evidence, even in the confines of an editorial
2. "in her own right" implies that they believe these things about her partner as well
1. "Usha Vance strikes us as someone who..." is a wild thing to say without evidence, even in the confines of an editorial
2. "in her own right" implies that they believe these things about her partner as well
January 26, 2026 at 9:18 PM
A few things here:
1. "Usha Vance strikes us as someone who..." is a wild thing to say without evidence, even in the confines of an editorial
2. "in her own right" implies that they believe these things about her partner as well
1. "Usha Vance strikes us as someone who..." is a wild thing to say without evidence, even in the confines of an editorial
2. "in her own right" implies that they believe these things about her partner as well
The lawyer arguing in federal court today on behalf of the US that ICE should be able to continue its operations in Minnesota joined DOJ 3 months ago, graduated law school in 2022, and has no experience in law practice other than his clerkships.
Brantley Mayers joined the DOJ three months ago, and is now defending the government in Minnesota. That's all I need to know about him to form a very strong opinion about that kind of a person he is.
January 26, 2026 at 7:00 PM
The lawyer arguing in federal court today on behalf of the US that ICE should be able to continue its operations in Minnesota joined DOJ 3 months ago, graduated law school in 2022, and has no experience in law practice other than his clerkships.