Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond) Forum

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 11, 2022 1:55 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:08 pm
Looking at these ratings, I’m curious about Millett. She seems to have all the usual markers of a feeder (hot-shot SCOTUS litigator, DC Cir) and has a reputation of working her clerks really hard, but doesn’t feed at a high rate.

Is that a red flag that she doesn’t look out for her clerks?
I expect that a lot of it is just that the previous generation of liberal feeders were so dominant—even Srinivasan wasn’t all that big of a feeder until fairly recently—and that now it’s very hard for liberal judges to feed.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 11, 2022 4:59 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:08 pm
Looking at these ratings, I’m curious about Millett. She seems to have all the usual markers of a feeder (hot-shot SCOTUS litigator, DC Cir) and has a reputation of working her clerks really hard, but doesn’t feed at a high rate.

Is that a red flag that she doesn’t look out for her clerks?
I don't know if this is true in her case in particular but sometimes a judge won't feed because they're irascible and/or simply just don't make an effort to build relationships with the Justices. On one extreme, Dabney Friedrich used to date Brett Kavanaugh--it's unsurprising she'll feed to Kavanaugh and that builds a virtuous cycle of getting clerks who are competitive for Kavanaugh or the Chief. On the other extreme, Posner would antagonize a number of Justices with his writing. While some of his clerks still went to the Court, I can't help but think that on the margins, they went because they were good enough to clerk for a Posner-tier judge rather than because Posner was calling in a favor with a Justice to get them hired.

Millett might be in the latter because I've heard she's a difficult person but it could just be that she never got to know the liberal Justices. That might change with KBJ on the Court plus her working relationship with Kavanaugh from the DC Circuit.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:57 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Jun 11, 2022 12:19 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:08 pm
Looking at these ratings, I’m curious about Millett. She seems to have all the usual markers of a feeder (hot-shot SCOTUS litigator, DC Cir) and has a reputation of working her clerks really hard, but doesn’t feed at a high rate.

Is that a red flag that she doesn’t look out for her clerks?
The recent terms have marked an uptick for her feeding actually—this criticism was more common earlier when she hadn’t fed / only had 1-2. She seems to be taking more counters / libs who are open to being counters, which may be coincidence or a conscious choice, but it has led to more feeds on this current Court.
Agreed, and I'd guess it's a conscious choice. Millett is quite moderate anyways, it's not much sacrifice to hire clerks who are moderate too.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:20 am

At my HYS, Nathan has very quickly become the top sought-after clerkship for the top students. This is interesting. Wondering if it means she will be feeding a lot in the coming future.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:32 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:20 am
At my HYS, Nathan has very quickly become the top sought-after clerkship for the top students. This is interesting. Wondering if it means she will be feeding a lot in the coming future.
I'd expect her to feed quite a bit, and the one Nathan clerk I know who was hired post-elevation will be a SCOTUS contender for sure, but she also hired out pretty far on the district court, during which time she was "only" the 4th or so most competitive SDNY judge.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:44 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:32 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:20 am
At my HYS, Nathan has very quickly become the top sought-after clerkship for the top students. This is interesting. Wondering if it means she will be feeding a lot in the coming future.
I'd expect her to feed quite a bit, and the one Nathan clerk I know who was hired post-elevation will be a SCOTUS contender for sure, but she also hired out pretty far on the district court, during which time she was "only" the 4th or so most competitive SDNY judge.
I wonder if she will become a feeder on the level of Pillard, etc.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:18 am

Which conservative feeders are most likely to hire a liberal? Are there any tippy-top conservative feeders who'll hire someone who is closer to Kagan than Kavanaugh?

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 2:39 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:18 am
Which conservative feeders are most likely to hire a liberal? Are there any tippy-top conservative feeders who'll hire someone who is closer to Kagan than Kavanaugh?
Sutton

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 7:46 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:18 am
Which conservative feeders are most likely to hire a liberal? Are there any tippy-top conservative feeders who'll hire someone who is closer to Kagan than Kavanaugh?
Wilkinson.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:29 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:18 am
Which conservative feeders are most likely to hire a liberal? Are there any tippy-top conservative feeders who'll hire someone who is closer to Kagan than Kavanaugh?
Bibas hires people who are pretty liberal. Not a major feeder, but probably close to Wilkinson territory these days.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:10 pm

The biggest conservative feeders who regularly hire liberals are Bibas, Livingston, and Wilkinson. Sutton and Thapar at least used to as well, but I’m not sure that they still do. There are some judges who seem likely to become significant feeders in the years ahead, like Richardson and Park, who do as well.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:23 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:29 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:18 am
Which conservative feeders are most likely to hire a liberal? Are there any tippy-top conservative feeders who'll hire someone who is closer to Kagan than Kavanaugh?
Bibas hires people who are pretty liberal. Not a major feeder, but probably close to Wilkinson territory these days.

Isn’t JHW considered a pretty major feeder?

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:29 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:18 am
Which conservative feeders are most likely to hire a liberal? Are there any tippy-top conservative feeders who'll hire someone who is closer to Kagan than Kavanaugh?
Bibas hires people who are pretty liberal. Not a major feeder, but probably close to Wilkinson territory these days.

Isn’t JHW considered a pretty major feeder?
He was a bigger feeder back when Kennedy and Scalia were still on the court. He is still a feeder, but has been surpassed by a few others. I think someone put a table out with the current feeder power rankings and he was near Bibas, Rao, and Oldham.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:48 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:10 pm
The biggest conservative feeders who regularly hire liberals are Bibas, Livingston, and Wilkinson. Sutton and Thapar at least used to as well, but I’m not sure that they still do. There are some judges who seem likely to become significant feeders in the years ahead, like Richardson and Park, who do as well.
Sutton clerk hired for a future year was a field organizer for Bernie and did multiple ACLU internships, another is an ACS chapter leader. He still hires liberals.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 3:12 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:48 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:10 pm
The biggest conservative feeders who regularly hire liberals are Bibas, Livingston, and Wilkinson. Sutton and Thapar at least used to as well, but I’m not sure that they still do. There are some judges who seem likely to become significant feeders in the years ahead, like Richardson and Park, who do as well.
Sutton clerk hired for a future year was a field organizer for Bernie and did multiple ACLU internships, another is an ACS chapter leader. He still hires liberals.
Yes, Sutton still hires usually one counter clerk ala Scalia. Now that he's Chief, I imagine some years he might even be open to a second counter-clerk. He has a big focus on someone he thinks he can feed to the left of center justices so he hires pretty far left folks pretty often. He also often offers a clerkship to usually one person from his HLS seminar--often the counter clerk. I interviewed for the spot within the last few years and know some recent hires.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 4:59 pm

A little off topic, but this is a thread about feeders, so I figured this question might as well go here.

I'm just thinking about certain judges who appear to have the "feeder" kind of profile (clerked on SCOTUS themselves, or are/were very plugged into DC elite litigation circles, etc.) that haven't really sent anyone, or maybe like one or two. Some that come to mind--very random but spitballing here--include Harris (4th), Howell (DDC), Cooper (DDC), Liman (SDNY) ...and even people who have been on the bench longer, like Lynch (2d), Hurwitz (9th), Koeltl (SDNY).

I'm just wondering if the lack of feeding from people who could feed says anything about them as mentors (maybe not willing to push people that hard), or if it's just that they tend to hire people who are more interested in doing things where the ultimate gold star just doesn't seem important, or...? Or do the Justices only really care to hear from a small handful of people, and if you're not in their small circle of trusted recommenders, too bad?

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 22, 2022 7:39 pm

There just aren’t that many spots for liberal feeders, and some of those, like Lynch, Howell, and Koeltl, have fed before. I have always wondered why Pamela Harris doesn’t feed, as she seems to hit all the boxes—elite credentials, in DMV, likely in similar social circles to the justices.

Equally, you could ask some judges become big feeders with very but not abnormally elite backgrounds and no appellate background—usually I think it’s that they’re exceptional at networking etc (which I’ve heard about Boasberg, Oetken, and Thapar, who are three of that type)

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:37 pm

Wilkinson, Thapar, and Sutton hire liberals but Pryor and Katsas don't. Going down a tier, Grant, Newsom, and Bibas all do.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:40 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:37 pm
Wilkinson, Thapar, and Sutton hire liberals but Pryor and Katsas don't. Going down a tier, Grant, Newsom, and Bibas all do.
Thapar hasn't hired a liberal in a while.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:42 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 3:12 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:48 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:10 pm
The biggest conservative feeders who regularly hire liberals are Bibas, Livingston, and Wilkinson. Sutton and Thapar at least used to as well, but I’m not sure that they still do. There are some judges who seem likely to become significant feeders in the years ahead, like Richardson and Park, who do as well.
Sutton clerk hired for a future year was a field organizer for Bernie and did multiple ACLU internships, another is an ACS chapter leader. He still hires liberals.
Yes, Sutton still hires usually one counter clerk ala Scalia. Now that he's Chief, I imagine some years he might even be open to a second counter-clerk. He has a big focus on someone he thinks he can feed to the left of center justices so he hires pretty far left folks pretty often. He also often offers a clerkship to usually one person from his HLS seminar--often the counter clerk. I interviewed for the spot within the last few years and know some recent hires.
I didn't know about the HLS seminar, that's interesting. Sutton has a surprising number of liberal judge/justice friends. Don't know how he does it from Ohio.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 24, 2022 12:11 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:42 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 3:12 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:48 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:10 pm
The biggest conservative feeders who regularly hire liberals are Bibas, Livingston, and Wilkinson. Sutton and Thapar at least used to as well, but I’m not sure that they still do. There are some judges who seem likely to become significant feeders in the years ahead, like Richardson and Park, who do as well.
Sutton clerk hired for a future year was a field organizer for Bernie and did multiple ACLU internships, another is an ACS chapter leader. He still hires liberals.
Yes, Sutton still hires usually one counter clerk ala Scalia. Now that he's Chief, I imagine some years he might even be open to a second counter-clerk. He has a big focus on someone he thinks he can feed to the left of center justices so he hires pretty far left folks pretty often. He also often offers a clerkship to usually one person from his HLS seminar--often the counter clerk. I interviewed for the spot within the last few years and know some recent hires.
I didn't know about the HLS seminar, that's interesting. Sutton has a surprising number of liberal judge/justice friends. Don't know how he does it from Ohio.
He seems to travel a ton, I think he’s talked to every state supreme court or close to it by now, plus he does a lot of law school talks and events

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 24, 2022 12:31 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:40 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:37 pm
Wilkinson, Thapar, and Sutton hire liberals but Pryor and Katsas don't. Going down a tier, Grant, Newsom, and Bibas all do.
Thapar hasn't hired a liberal in a while.
He had one last year who also clerked for Chabria. Also there are clerks who might appear "conservative" because they clerk for conservative judges but are personally liberal or centrist (this is especially true given how much harder it is to get liberal clerkships) so the coding is a guessing game.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 24, 2022 9:15 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 24, 2022 12:31 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:40 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:37 pm
Wilkinson, Thapar, and Sutton hire liberals but Pryor and Katsas don't. Going down a tier, Grant, Newsom, and Bibas all do.
Thapar hasn't hired a liberal in a while.
He had one last year who also clerked for Chabria. Also there are clerks who might appear "conservative" because they clerk for conservative judges but are personally liberal or centrist (this is especially true given how much harder it is to get liberal clerkships) so the coding is a guessing game.
This happens more than people might think, especially with the good thing Thapar has going with Chief Justice Roberts.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 24, 2022 9:27 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 24, 2022 12:31 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:40 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:37 pm
Wilkinson, Thapar, and Sutton hire liberals but Pryor and Katsas don't. Going down a tier, Grant, Newsom, and Bibas all do.
Thapar hasn't hired a liberal in a while.
He had one last year who also clerked for Chabria. Also there are clerks who might appear "conservative" because they clerk for conservative judges but are personally liberal or centrist (this is especially true given how much harder it is to get liberal clerkships) so the coding is a guessing game.
I believe Thapar has one right now who also clerked for Pacold, but is liberal, but given how far out he hires they were hired back in early 2018. Can’t speak to his more recent practices regarding this.

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Re: Feeder Judge Ratings OT 2016 - 2020 (and a bit beyond)

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 25, 2022 12:05 am

Thapar had a liberal for the last 3 years at least. But he's very conservative so that's sometimes forgotten compared to someone like Sutton or Bibas.

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