240

Why Did Two of Judge Aileen Cannon’s Law Clerks Suddenly Quit? (newrepublic.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Donald Trump’s favorite judge is suddenly losing law clerks.

Judge Aileen Cannon has been moving alarmingly slowly in setting up a trial date for Donald Trump’s classified documents criminal case—but it may not be a bid to help out the man who appointed her.

As of Thursday, the Florida judge had lost at least two law clerks in the last six months, who up and quit on her rather than finish out their one-year terms, according to several sources within Cannon’s legal circuit that spoke with attorney David Lat.

The rarity of multiple clerks leaving their posts can’t be understated, especially considering that judges typically hire just two or three clerks per annum. As Lat notes in his Substack Original Jurisdiction, “a law clerk’s role is substantive, not clerical or administrative.” Clerks are more like a judge’s right and left hands—they help the judiciary conduct research, prepare for trials, and draft opinions. Clerkships are highly competitive, and one serving a federal judge would otherwise be considered résumé gold, so it’s certainly curious that they seem to be fleeing her bench.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] [email protected] 76 points 5 months ago

From the article...

“Because a clerkship typically lasts one year and is an extremely valuable credential, most clerks will ‘ride it out’ instead of quitting, even if they’re miserable or have issues with their judge,”

[-] [email protected] 41 points 5 months ago

Clerking for a federal judge is a huge get.

It exposes you to trail, a diversity of legal cases, and how a judge thinks. There aren't a lot of federal judges and the people that clerk for them tend to come from prestigious schools and the top of their class.

Of course, that can't be great when the judge you are working for is a partisan hack who had zero court experience before becoming a judge and did not clerk for a federal judge. She was one of many Trump appointees the bar association ranked as "unqualified".

But she cozied up to the federalist society, which is how she got appointed.

[-] [email protected] 26 points 5 months ago

So basically these clerks were probably more qualified than their boss?

[-] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Failing up is amazing

[-] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Actually.. yeah. And they had better education

this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024

240 points (97.2% liked)

politics

18853 readers

4368 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News