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My intuition is that you'll be fine. Judges hire clerks because they like them and think they'll do a good job. Your judge must have thought that when he hired you, and I doubt failing the bar one extra time will be enough of a motivator to make the judge 1) change his mind about you and 2) drop everything and start looking for a replacement clerk. Remember, as your judge pointed out, he doesn't need you to be barred in the state in which he sits (or indeed anywhere).

I don't understand why this question is even relevant if the jugde told you you need not be barred. I even know of some people who take their bar after thier clerkship. How would this conversation even come up? I do not recall any scnerio where I had a discussion about anything that has to do with my bar admission when speaking with my judge. So I am not sure why you even ran it by the clerk. I am not saying hide or lie about facts, but if it is not relevant why even bring it up? it seems like you already let the cat out the bag since you already told the clerk but I still don't see why you need to make it even a topic of discussion unless the judge told you you need to be barred ANYWHERE (i.e. you do not have to be barred in his state but must be barred in the U.S.).

P.s. if you want to come in as anything but an entry level or if you are clerking for more than a year, it will affect you on the JSP pay scale, you will need to pass the bar to get a raise past entry level I believe (so it will affect your pay scale)

OP here. Thanks for the feedback! I guess I was mostly just concerned that the judge would think I am incompetent because I failed twice (presuming the worst case scenario). He seems to be very reasonable and understanding, so hopefully it will all work out regardless.