Best and worst judges to clerk for Forum

[Anonymous User]

Yeah can we get back to a topic that's actually helpful or useful to people? I've got one:

Anyone know how it is to clerk with any of the Trump CA7 judges - not so much ideology (though is it fair to say that Scudder/St. Eve are more moderate than Brennan/Kirsch?) but more in terms of hours/workload/etc.

[phillybatman]

Has this thread completely devolved into a debate about Crystal Clanton and Charlie Kirk or can we return to talking about which judges are good bosses or not? Because I'd like to know if anyone has any knowledge of the working styles of some of the younger Fourth Circuit judges, specifically Diaz, Thacker, Harris, and Heytens (with the caveat that any knowledge of his working style comes from his time before the bench).

[Anonymous User]

Yeah can we get back to a topic that's actually helpful or useful to people? I've got one:

Anyone know how it is to clerk with any of the Trump CA7 judges - not so much ideology (though is it fair to say that Scudder/St. Eve are more moderate than Brennan/Kirsch?) but more in terms of hours/workload/etc.

Have heard that Scudder works his clerks pretty hard, but that he's not particularly ideological.

[Anonymous User]

I took a class with Scudder at UC, and found him to be a delight. He doesn't strike me to be overly ideological.

[Anonymous User]

Beeler in N.D. Cal. is great.

[Anonymous User]

I took a class with Scudder at UC, and found him to be a delight. He doesn't strike me to be overly ideological.

+1; Scudder and St Eve are among the least ideological Trump COA appointees, and Scudder is a great guy (I don’t know St Eve personally). If you search on this forum you’ll find lots of Scudder praise from UC students, his class with Pat Fitzgerald is extremely popular at Chicago.

Kirsch and St Eve also hire liberals. Only Brennan doesn’t of the CA7 Trump appointees.

[Anonymous User]

Judge Lee on the Utah Supreme Court is stepping down, pretty big news.

[Anonymous User]

Judge Lee on the Utah Supreme Court is stepping down, pretty big news.

Surprised that the Trump admin didn't elevate him to the 10th circuit when they had the chance, presumably he is as well-connected as someone could be...

[jackshunger]

Judge Lee on the Utah Supreme Court is stepping down, pretty big news.

Surprised that the Trump admin didn't elevate him to the 10th circuit when they had the chance, presumably he is as well-connected as someone could be...

There was no Utah seat that ever opened up

[Anonymous User]

If anyone needed another reason not to clerk for VanDyke: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/ ... -56220.pdf

[Anonymous User]

I took a class with Scudder at UC, and found him to be a delight. He doesn't strike me to be overly ideological.

+1; Scudder and St Eve are among the least ideological Trump COA appointees, and Scudder is a great guy (I don’t know St Eve personally). If you search on this forum you’ll find lots of Scudder praise from UC students, his class with Pat Fitzgerald is extremely popular at Chicago.

I'm the above anon, and that's the class I took. If any UC people are reading this and have the chance to take the class, I can't recommend it strongly enough.

[lavarman84]

If anyone needed another reason not to clerk for VanDyke: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/ ... -56220.pdf

The silliest part of all this is that these are the type of judges who would rule that being wrongfully detained in jail on a warrant that was for somebody else for 48 hours doesn't violate your constitutional rights (see Baker v. McCollan), but that somehow does. Galaxy brain.

[Anonymous User]

If anyone needed another reason not to clerk for VanDyke: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/ ... -56220.pdf

Is the objection because it involves 2A? Or is there something else I missed.

[nixy]

If anyone needed another reason not to clerk for VanDyke: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/ ... -56220.pdf

Wow, that's impressive.

(For the post above me, it's the concurrence which is basically a big fuck you to the rest of the court.)

[Anonymous User]

If anyone needed another reason not to clerk for VanDyke: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/ ... -56220.pdf

Wow, that's impressive.

(For the post above me, it's the concurrence which is basically a big fuck you to the rest of the court.)

OK I hadn't read that far. What a weirdo.

[Anonymous User]

If anyone needed another reason not to clerk for VanDyke: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/ ... -56220.pdf

What in the everloving fuck did I just read.

[lavarman84]

If anyone needed another reason not to clerk for VanDyke: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/ ... -56220.pdf

Wow, that's impressive.

(For the post above me, it's the concurrence which is basically a big fuck you to the rest of the court.)

Oh my. Didn't even see that. And I just realized that I misread "48-day" as "48-hour." Ignore my previous post. Congress should really consider creating a new federal circuit that has jurisdiction over no cases and assigning VanDyke to it. On the downside, he'd get paid to do nothing. On the upside, nobody would have suffer through his petulant temper tantrums.

[Anonymous User]

Has Judge VanDyke reached the level of the late Judge Real — a judge where the lack of respect from both colleagues and litigants might actually be a strong reason not to seek the clerkship?

[Anonymous User]

I don't think he's been on the bench long enough to quite say that, but I could be underestimating him. Was Real so ideological, though, or just a really crappy judge? (Honest question, I've never practiced in that part of the country so I don't know a lot of the specifics about him.) Being more ideologically driven wouldn't make VanDyke a better judge, but it might mean there's a bigger cadre of people out there who would still value a clerkship with him because they share his ideology.

(But this is just a guess.)

[Anonymous User]

I would guess that a clerkship with VanDyke would still be better than nothing, and may be valuable depending on your career goals, but I doubt he will ever be very well-respected or competitive even among the Fed Soc crowd

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, I was thinking a narrower subset of the FedSoc crowd rather than the entire group. But also I think it's a little hard to make an assessment like that yet, though he seems headed that way.

[Anonymous User]

Tbh this is one of the few VanDyke gimmicks that's at least actually pretty funny, especially the footnotes to the concurrence. A bit Kozinskiesque. Though it won't help his reputation.

[Anonymous User]

Has Judge VanDyke reached the level of the late Judge Real — a judge where the lack of respect from both colleagues and litigants might actually be a strong reason not to seek the clerkship?

Clerked for a FedSoc COA and my former co-clerks and I have had texts about how bizarre and inappropriate his behavior is fwiw

[Anonymous User]

Has Judge VanDyke reached the level of the late Judge Real — a judge where the lack of respect from both colleagues and litigants might actually be a strong reason not to seek the clerkship?

Clerked for a FedSoc COA and my former co-clerks and I have had texts about how bizarre and inappropriate his behavior is fwiw

Yeah I think even conservatives find it cringeworthy. My judge finds VanDyke embarrassing.

[Anonymous User]

Tbh this is one of the few VanDyke gimmicks that's at least actually pretty funny, especially the footnotes to the concurrence. A bit Kozinskiesque. Though it won't help his reputation.

It's objectively hilarious, and correct on the merits, but not appropriate. He should have saved it for a law review piece.

That being said, the ATL level wishcasting that VanDyke blasting off against his fellow judges will have some sort of negative repercussion for his clerks is pretty silly. He's also getting plenty of apps (as far I know know, he prefers to hire locals with ties to either Montana or Nevada), his brother has a SCOTUS clerkship, and he's continually getting invited to the most notable panels. He's doing fine.