Best and worst judges to clerk for Forum

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 06, 2022 7:26 pm

Edith Jones watches too much Fox News, ex. 466

https://mobile.twitter.com/RMFifthCircu ... 4212305920

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Yeti

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Yeti » Wed Dec 07, 2022 12:13 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 7:26 pm
Edith Jones watches too much Fox News, ex. 466

https://mobile.twitter.com/RMFifthCircu ... 4212305920
I am guessing this is bait (why are you anon-posting?) but I’ll bite. Judge Jones’s assertions are easily validated by a non-right news outlets. From NBC News:
“ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/migrant-border-crossings-fiscal-year-2022-topped-276-million-breaking-rcna53517” wrote: The number of undocumented immigrant crossings at the southwest border for fiscal year 2022 topped 2.76 million, breaking the previous annual record by more than 1 million, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

lavarman84

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by lavarman84 » Thu Dec 08, 2022 12:14 am

Yeti wrote:
Wed Dec 07, 2022 12:13 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 7:26 pm
Edith Jones watches too much Fox News, ex. 466

https://mobile.twitter.com/RMFifthCircu ... 4212305920
I am guessing this is bait (why are you anon-posting?) but I’ll bite. Judge Jones’s assertions are easily validated by a non-right news outlets. From NBC News:
“ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/migrant-border-crossings-fiscal-year-2022-topped-276-million-breaking-rcna53517” wrote: The number of undocumented immigrant crossings at the southwest border for fiscal year 2022 topped 2.76 million, breaking the previous annual record by more than 1 million, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
The assertion that "the United States no longer has borders" is so manifestly stupid and contrary to reality that the person making it in "court" has no business practicing law, much less deciding cases. When "judges" sound like Newsmax commentators, we have a massive problem.

(And her fentanyl claim shows a stunning amount of ignorance from a person who is trying to "judge" a case on border fencing.)

To be clear, I'm not the anon who posted. But I do support any person who is calling out Edith Jones for being an incompetent, partisan hack.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:17 am

Given the judicial smackdown just received from two Trump-appointed and one Bush-appointed appellate judges in the 11th Circuit, you should probably steer clear of Aileen Cannon. Not sure I remember the last time a federal district judge self-pwned themselves in such a nationally embarrassing way strictly on the merits of a ruling

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Dec 09, 2022 5:56 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:17 am
Given the judicial smackdown just received from two Trump-appointed and one Bush-appointed appellate judges in the 11th Circuit, you should probably steer clear of Aileen Cannon. Not sure I remember the last time a federal district judge self-pwned themselves in such a nationally embarrassing way strictly on the merits of a ruling
Smackdown or not, she's been considered an idiot by those in the know in SDFL for a while. Clerking for her was already a red flag.

This isn't about DJT judges generally. Just her. His other appointees to the District are great.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Dec 15, 2022 11:55 pm

Oldham (joined by Wilson and Jerry Smith) with maybe the most radical habeas opinion I’ve ever seen? It’s pretty close to abolishing postconviction habeas by stating (though in dicta) that petitioners must meet a “law and justice” test in addition to AEDPA, and that that test can only be met by actual innocence (interpreted to exclude affirmative defenses and statutory interpretation errors like Johnson or Rehaif claims). All with very little reasoning and no citations to on-point precedent.

https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A% ... j4342kuu53

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Dec 16, 2022 7:52 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Dec 15, 2022 11:55 pm
Oldham (joined by Wilson and Jerry Smith) with maybe the most radical habeas opinion I’ve ever seen? It’s pretty close to abolishing postconviction habeas by stating (though in dicta) that petitioners must meet a “law and justice” test in addition to AEDPA, and that that test can only be met by actual innocence (interpreted to exclude affirmative defenses and statutory interpretation errors like Johnson or Rehaif claims). All with very little reasoning and no citations to on-point precedent.

https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A% ... j4342kuu53
Last edited by Anonymous User on Sat Feb 10, 2024 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am

Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 20, 2022 2:45 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 5:56 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:17 am
Given the judicial smackdown just received from two Trump-appointed and one Bush-appointed appellate judges in the 11th Circuit, you should probably steer clear of Aileen Cannon. Not sure I remember the last time a federal district judge self-pwned themselves in such a nationally embarrassing way strictly on the merits of a ruling
Smackdown or not, she's been considered an idiot by those in the know in SDFL for a while. Clerking for her was already a red flag.

This isn't about DJT judges generally. Just her. His other appointees to the District are great.
Not sure you can say clerking for her was already a red flag given nothing was widely known about her until the Trump case. I personally know two former/current/future clerks (both accepted before anything was known about her) who are both intelligent and have Circuit clerkships as well.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:09 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am
Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.
This does not surprise me one bit.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Saami » Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:40 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am
Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.
What the hell is the matter with people? I swear, the more stories I read about judges, the more I feel lucky to have clerked for one who simply treated me like a fellow human being.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:38 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 2:45 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 5:56 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:17 am
Given the judicial smackdown just received from two Trump-appointed and one Bush-appointed appellate judges in the 11th Circuit, you should probably steer clear of Aileen Cannon. Not sure I remember the last time a federal district judge self-pwned themselves in such a nationally embarrassing way strictly on the merits of a ruling
Smackdown or not, she's been considered an idiot by those in the know in SDFL for a while. Clerking for her was already a red flag.

This isn't about DJT judges generally. Just her. His other appointees to the District are great.
Not sure you can say clerking for her was already a red flag given nothing was widely known about her until the Trump case. I personally know two former/current/future clerks (both accepted before anything was known about her) who are both intelligent and have Circuit clerkships as well.
The person you're quoting literally said "she's been considered an idiot by those in the know in SDFL for a while." She was an AUSA there and apparently decently well known in the community. I guess you're defining "widely known" as "known among law students," but no one cares what law students know (which is nothing).

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:51 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:09 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am
Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.
This does not surprise me one bit.
Why is that? She's been on the court ...three months? small amount of time to be down to a short fuse.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:55 pm

I’m surprised that something like that wouldn’t come up in vetting (if it’s true, obviously), she’s been a judge for a decent length of time

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:57 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:51 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:09 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am
Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.
This does not surprise me one bit.
Why is that? She's been on the court ...three months? small amount of time to be down to a short fuse.
She was a magistrate and a district court judge. She might have even gotten that reputation at the FPD.

In response to the next comment, no one vetting particularly cares if a judge is mean to their clerks. People still vouch for Senator Klobuchar for all sorts of positions, and she is absolutely sadistic to all of her staffers (not a surprise - she was a BigLaw partner!).

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:09 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 2:45 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 5:56 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:17 am
Given the judicial smackdown just received from two Trump-appointed and one Bush-appointed appellate judges in the 11th Circuit, you should probably steer clear of Aileen Cannon. Not sure I remember the last time a federal district judge self-pwned themselves in such a nationally embarrassing way strictly on the merits of a ruling
Smackdown or not, she's been considered an idiot by those in the know in SDFL for a while. Clerking for her was already a red flag.

This isn't about DJT judges generally. Just her. His other appointees to the District are great.
Not sure you can say clerking for her was already a red flag given nothing was widely known about her until the Trump case. I personally know two former/current/future clerks (both accepted before anything was known about her) who are both intelligent and have Circuit clerkships as well.
There are plenty of red flags in her background that she might make a terrible judge. Her judicial application is online for anyone to see. I looked.

She had 3 years of experience in biglaw, only. She then got hired by the USAO for S.D. Florida, where she worked as a line attorney never promoted to supervisory responsibility, for seven years. She tried four jury trials in that time. And they were all criminal cases. She has basically zero civil experience, much less experience in matters of constitutional law such as the one that she made an ass-clown of herself in before the 11th Circuit. She actually lists two jury trials in which she assisted as a paralegal to answer one of the application questions about trial experience.

But hey, she was a member of Fed Soc, so welcome to the bench for lifetime tenure.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:12 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:57 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:51 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:09 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am
Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.
This does not surprise me one bit.
Why is that? She's been on the court ...three months? small amount of time to be down to a short fuse.
She was a magistrate and a district court judge. She might have even gotten that reputation at the FPD.

In response to the next comment, no one vetting particularly cares if a judge is mean to their clerks. People still vouch for Senator Klobuchar for all sorts of positions, and she is absolutely sadistic to all of her staffers (not a surprise - she was a BigLaw partner!).
Seriously, other than this single thread in this single forum, where else is a law clerk ever going to feel comfortable telling strangers that a judge is verbally abusive to law clerks?

This thread needs to be bumped once a month for eternity. May it never die.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:30 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:12 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:57 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:51 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:09 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am
Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.
This does not surprise me one bit.
Why is that? She's been on the court ...three months? small amount of time to be down to a short fuse.
She was a magistrate and a district court judge. She might have even gotten that reputation at the FPD.

In response to the next comment, no one vetting particularly cares if a judge is mean to their clerks. People still vouch for Senator Klobuchar for all sorts of positions, and she is absolutely sadistic to all of her staffers (not a surprise - she was a BigLaw partner!).
Seriously, other than this single thread in this single forum, where else is a law clerk ever going to feel comfortable telling strangers that a judge is verbally abusive to law clerks?

This thread needs to be bumped once a month for eternity. May it never die.
Nah a better use for this thread is for random partisans to relitigate which FedSoc judges are the worst lol.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:36 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:30 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:12 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:57 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:51 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:09 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:21 am
Judge Merriam in the 2nd circuit screams loudly and frequently at clerks.
This does not surprise me one bit.
Why is that? She's been on the court ...three months? small amount of time to be down to a short fuse.
She was a magistrate and a district court judge. She might have even gotten that reputation at the FPD.

In response to the next comment, no one vetting particularly cares if a judge is mean to their clerks. People still vouch for Senator Klobuchar for all sorts of positions, and she is absolutely sadistic to all of her staffers (not a surprise - she was a BigLaw partner!).
Seriously, other than this single thread in this single forum, where else is a law clerk ever going to feel comfortable telling strangers that a judge is verbally abusive to law clerks?

This thread needs to be bumped once a month for eternity. May it never die.
Nah a better use for this thread is for random partisans to relitigate which FedSoc judges are the worst lol.
Oh ok, so, your feelings are hurt because people say mean things about right wing judicial appointees. I'm a liberal and don't really give a damn whether a buffoon in a robe is left wing or right wing. 9th Circuit Judge Reinhardt, a liberal who sexually harassed his law clerks, can burn in hell for all I care.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:47 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:36 am

Oh ok, so, your feelings are hurt because people say mean things about right wing judicial appointees. I'm a liberal and don't really give a damn whether a buffoon in a robe is left wing or right wing. 9th Circuit Judge Reinhardt, a liberal who sexually harassed his law clerks, can burn in hell for all I care.


I don't really care if people want to post hot takes about Trump judges all over this website, I would just prefer they create a separate thread for that and save this thread for its actual purpose - to expose the Kozinski's and Reinhart's of the legal world.

lavarman84

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by lavarman84 » Wed Dec 21, 2022 4:44 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:47 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:36 am

Oh ok, so, your feelings are hurt because people say mean things about right wing judicial appointees. I'm a liberal and don't really give a damn whether a buffoon in a robe is left wing or right wing. 9th Circuit Judge Reinhardt, a liberal who sexually harassed his law clerks, can burn in hell for all I care.


I don't really care if people want to post hot takes about Trump judges all over this website, I would just prefer they create a separate thread for that and save this thread for its actual purpose - to expose the Kozinski's and Reinhart's of the legal world.
It seems relevant, considering some people do care about a judge's ideology and how extreme they are. It shouldn't drown out the discussion of how a judge runs chambers and treats their clerks, but it's worth mentioning when it pops up.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Yeti » Wed Dec 21, 2022 1:26 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Dec 16, 2022 7:52 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Dec 15, 2022 11:55 pm
Oldham (joined by Wilson and Jerry Smith) with maybe the most radical habeas opinion I’ve ever seen? It’s pretty close to abolishing postconviction habeas by stating (though in dicta) that petitioners must meet a “law and justice” test in addition to AEDPA, and that that test can only be met by actual innocence (interpreted to exclude affirmative defenses and statutory interpretation errors like Johnson or Rehaif claims). All with very little reasoning and no citations to on-point precedent.

https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A% ... j4342kuu53
Is there a running bet between the Trump appointees on the Fifth Circuit to see who can write the craziest opinion possible? Do they win a car or something if they do? Tremendous stuff
Why are these posters permitted to abuse the anon feature?

The “law and justice” test is not a contrivance by Trump appointees but rather a part of the habeas statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2243. You would know this if you read the opinion instead of parroting the article you read about it on Vox.

lavarman84

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by lavarman84 » Wed Dec 21, 2022 6:45 pm

Yeti wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 1:26 pm
Why are these posters permitted to abuse the anon feature?

The “law and justice” test is not a contrivance by Trump appointees but rather a part of the habeas statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2243. You would know this if you read the opinion instead of parroting the article you read about it on Vox.
There is no "law and justice" test in the statute. The statute states: "The court shall summarily hear and determine the facts, and dispose of the matter as law and justice require." SCOTUS previously interpreted that language "as an authorization to adjust the scope of the writ in accordance with equitable and prudential considerations." Danforth v. Minnesota, 552 U.S. 264, 278 (2008). Thomas and Gorsuch then took the stance in Davenport and Shinn that the language affords courts discretion to decide whether or not to grant relief based on whether they believe law and justice require it.

While I think Thomas and Gorsuch's conclusion is a questionable, but at least debatable, read of sections 2241 and 2243, it does not even approach the unhinged opinion of Oldham. Nowhere in section 2243 does it require factual innocence before a petitioner is entitled to a writ. Imposing that requirement as part of some "law and justice" test is a judicial amendment of the habeas statute. I thought originalists and textualists were above that sort of "judicial activism"? (HA!)

Anyways, I don't want to offtrack this thread, so you're welcome to the last word here. But that anonymous poster is right about it being a radical opinion.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:47 am

Here's my suggestion for good topics that belong on this thread:

* Abusive behavior such as yelling, sniping, sarcasm, and generally rude conduct.

* The opposite: judges who know how to provide feedback in a manner that is consistently professional and courteous.

* Political ideology but only if it actually affects the judge's hiring practices.

* Competence of the judge in a larger reputational context. If the judge is regarded as an idiot, it's fair game to want to know that ahead of time. But try to be objective here and not put a judge in this category just because you don't like the president who appointed him or her.

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Re: Best and worst judges to clerk for

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Dec 22, 2022 6:29 pm

Yeti wrote:
Wed Dec 21, 2022 1:26 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Dec 16, 2022 7:52 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Dec 15, 2022 11:55 pm
Oldham (joined by Wilson and Jerry Smith) with maybe the most radical habeas opinion I’ve ever seen? It’s pretty close to abolishing postconviction habeas by stating (though in dicta) that petitioners must meet a “law and justice” test in addition to AEDPA, and that that test can only be met by actual innocence (interpreted to exclude affirmative defenses and statutory interpretation errors like Johnson or Rehaif claims). All with very little reasoning and no citations to on-point precedent.

https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A% ... j4342kuu53
Is there a running bet between the Trump appointees on the Fifth Circuit to see who can write the craziest opinion possible? Do they win a car or something if they do? Tremendous stuff
Why are these posters permitted to abuse the anon feature?

The “law and justice” test is not a contrivance by Trump appointees but rather a part of the habeas statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2243. You would know this if you read the opinion instead of parroting the article you read about it on Vox.
…no, afaik no similar actual innocence test has been adopted in the history of the federal judiciary (including in the pre-Brown v. Allen era that Gorsuch and Thomas want to return to). Which is why that section of the opinion can’t cite any precedent.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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