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Does anyone have experience clerking for an Art. III judge that gets nominated to a higher court and is confirmed during your clerkship term? My main question is what is the protocol for the clerk (upon the nomination, then throughout the time your judge is being considered but the Judiciary committee, then after commission to the higher court).

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone have experience clerking for an Art. III judge that gets nominated to a higher court and is confirmed during your clerkship term? My main question is what is the protocol for the clerk (upon the nomination, then throughout the time your judge is being considered but the Judiciary committee, then after commission to the higher court).

There's no standard protocol; it's up to the judge and the chief judge of the court. As you may have noticed with the nominations of Garland and Gorsuch, COA judges generally stop hearing cases once they're nominated to SCOTUS. It's harder for a district-court judge to do the same when nominated to COA, though I can imagine the judge slowing certain things down (and/or moving stuff to other judges) if confirmation seems likely.

It depends entirely on the judge.

I clerk for a DJ who is allegedly on a short list for our COA. He/she said he/she would take us along if confirmed, and would do the same with clerks hired for next year. No obligation to do so, but that's his/her decision.