Most liberal federal judges? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’ve noticed that about Lynch. I heard Denise Casper was an option, although she’s older than I’d hope for. And I don’t have any clue about Howard’s replacement. I’m not sure what the holdup is there, considering the Senate race this fall.

I forgot about Gelpí being a Bush appointee. It contrasts with his opinion in Vaello-Madero (and his other liberalish rulings in DPR).

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

YLS students know this: Berzon threw a stapler at a clerk.

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’ve noticed that about Lynch. I heard Denise Casper was an option, although she’s older than I’d hope for. And I don’t have any clue about Howard’s replacement. I’m not sure what the holdup is there, considering the Senate race this fall.

I forgot about Gelpí being a Bush appointee. It contrasts with his opinion in Vaello-Madero (and his other liberalish rulings in DPR).

That district court opinion in Vaello-Madero was as big a piece of judicial activism as I've ever seen.

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’ve noticed that about Lynch. I heard Denise Casper was an option, although she’s older than I’d hope for. And I don’t have any clue about Howard’s replacement. I’m not sure what the holdup is there, considering the Senate race this fall.

I forgot about Gelpí being a Bush appointee. It contrasts with his opinion in Vaello-Madero (and his other liberalish rulings in DPR).

That district court opinion in Vaello-Madero was as big a piece of judicial activism as I've ever seen.

The Biden v. Texas district court opinions were 10X worse.

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’ve noticed that about Lynch. I heard Denise Casper was an option, although she’s older than I’d hope for. And I don’t have any clue about Howard’s replacement. I’m not sure what the holdup is there, considering the Senate race this fall.

I forgot about Gelpí being a Bush appointee. It contrasts with his opinion in Vaello-Madero (and his other liberalish rulings in DPR).

That district court opinion in Vaello-Madero was as big a piece of judicial activism as I've ever seen.

The Biden v. Texas district court opinions were 10X worse.

Yeah the BS from the Fifth Circuit and some of its district courts put everything else to shame (though Dobbs and the other nonsense from SCOTUS this term are pretty close)

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’m the guy who said Lynch was “nice.” I was going off the experience of one of my close law school friends who clerked for her and really enjoyed the experience. I met her once and had a positive reaction. But I’ll freely admit that’s anecdotal and small sample size, so she very well may be a bad boss and clerkship for many students. My bad.

On her ideology, I think she’s more liberal than folks are giving her credit for. Many liberal judges (like Breyer) are somewhat less progressive on crim issues—and the positive law reflects a strong pro-govt bias—but I’m not sure it’s fair to say she’s “conservative” for that reason.

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’m the guy who said Lynch was “nice.” I was going off the experience of one of my close law school friends who clerked for her and really enjoyed the experience. I met her once and had a positive reaction. But I’ll freely admit that’s anecdotal and small sample size, so she very well may be a bad boss and clerkship for many students. My bad.

On her ideology, I think she’s more liberal than folks are giving her credit for. Many liberal judges (like Breyer) are somewhat less progressive on crim issues—and the positive law reflects a strong pro-govt bias—but I’m not sure it’s fair to say she’s “conservative” for that reason.

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’m the guy who said Lynch was “nice.” I was going off the experience of one of my close law school friends who clerked for her and really enjoyed the experience. I met her once and had a positive reaction. But I’ll freely admit that’s anecdotal and small sample size, so she very well may be a bad boss and clerkship for many students. My bad.

On her ideology, I think she’s more liberal than folks are giving her credit for. Many liberal judges (like Breyer) are somewhat less progressive on crim issues—and the positive law reflects a strong pro-govt bias—but I’m not sure it’s fair to say she’s “conservative” for that reason.

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

For sure, there are more liberal judges overall and especially on crim. I guess I just bristle at using the word “conservative” to describe her ideology. Maybe moderate would be better. Semantics though, no doubt.

Fwiw I know that she’s very cognizant of not overreaching in light of the supreme court’s reactionary tendencies. I know she puts a lot of work into crafting more moderate opinions and compromises on the court. Moore is a great dissenter but when she gets a majority, I often feels like she plays into the Court’s hands giving them silly seeming liberal opinions below to mangle entire areas of law. If you take that DaVita case from this term, she could’ve reached the same result without adopting disparate impact principles and getting the court’s conservatives’ attention for cert. Same could be said with the unnecessary issuance of the CADC panel opinion from millett/Pillard in WV v EPA that gave scotus an opportunity to mangle the CAA…

[Anonymous User]

Do any of the liberal judges care about clerk ideology the way the Fed Soc judges do? I know some judges like public interest students (mostly the few judges with a PI or at least AUSA background themselves), but I get the impression that most just want high grades/law review/the typical qualifications.

[Anonymous User]

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

To be honest, CA1 is pretty middle of the road. It doesn't have any judges anyone would call conservative by national standards (Howard is the most conservative and is a moderate Republican). But even though Barron and Thompson are pretty liberal, I'm having a hard time thinking of any landmark liberal CA1 opinions that have really pushed the envelope. The 4th and 9th are more liberal circuits.

Lynch isn't a political conservative but is generally leans pro-government in criminal cases and pro-business in civil cases.

[Anonymous User]

Beyond circle jerking on here, hard to see how an occasional scotus hire really changes anything for Cabranes / Calabresi. The only reason “feeders” are generally thought to be more valuable clerkships for the long haul is because of (1) actual odds of getting to scotus, (2) their general stature if their feeding is the result of that, (3) general competitiveness of clerkship / co clerks. (1) is irrelevant here because your odds are not changed in this environment; left leaning clerks from any well respected judge have similar odds — low ones. (2) Calabresi is better known by a bit but all three are roughly similar in reputation. This is the only relevant distinction. (3) They’re all hiring the same people pretty much—mostly HYS top 1/3 qualified center-left academically minded people with excellent credentials but not gunning for scotus / at the very tip top of their class.

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Can you elaborate? I haven’t heard any accounts of Carney that are anything other than glowing (friendly, nice, very very smart, liberal but not extremely so, etc.) from folks at my school, so this is interesting. The only downside I’ve heard about is having to be in New Haven for the year lol

Given the recent CA2 appointees, would she fall somewhere near the middle ideologically on CA2 (but still decidedly liberal)?

[Anonymous User]

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

To be honest, CA1 is pretty middle of the road. It doesn't have any judges anyone would call conservative by national standards (Howard is the most conservative and is a moderate Republican). But even though Barron and Thompson are pretty liberal, I'm having a hard time thinking of any landmark liberal CA1 opinions that have really pushed the envelope. The 4th and 9th are more liberal circuits.

Lynch isn't a political conservative but is generally leans pro-government in criminal cases and pro-business in civil cases.

Working in the 1st Circuit, my take (and I think my colleagues agree with this) is that if the 1st doesn’t absolutely have to reach an issue, it won’t. It will work hard not to reach as many issues as possible. I used to work
in the 9th so it’s a little bit of whiplash.

[Anonymous User]

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

To be honest, CA1 is pretty middle of the road. It doesn't have any judges anyone would call conservative by national standards (Howard is the most conservative and is a moderate Republican). But even though Barron and Thompson are pretty liberal, I'm having a hard time thinking of any landmark liberal CA1 opinions that have really pushed the envelope. The 4th and 9th are more liberal circuits.

Lynch isn't a political conservative but is generally leans pro-government in criminal cases and pro-business in civil cases.

Working in the 1st Circuit, my take (and I think my colleagues agree with this) is that if the 1st doesn’t absolutely have to reach an issue, it won’t. It will work hard not to reach as many issues as possible. I used to work
in the 9th so it’s a little bit of whiplash.

I suppose that approach is how they’ve avoided matching the Ninth’s reversal rate (although the last year wasn’t great for them).

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’m the guy who said Lynch was “nice.” I was going off the experience of one of my close law school friends who clerked for her and really enjoyed the experience. I met her once and had a positive reaction. But I’ll freely admit that’s anecdotal and small sample size, so she very well may be a bad boss and clerkship for many students. My bad.

On her ideology, I think she’s more liberal than folks are giving her credit for. Many liberal judges (like Breyer) are somewhat less progressive on crim issues—and the positive law reflects a strong pro-govt bias—but I’m not sure it’s fair to say she’s “conservative” for that reason.

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

For sure, there are more liberal judges overall and especially on crim. I guess I just bristle at using the word “conservative” to describe her ideology. Maybe moderate would be better. Semantics though, no doubt.

Fwiw I know that she’s very cognizant of not overreaching in light of the supreme court’s reactionary tendencies. I know she puts a lot of work into crafting more moderate opinions and compromises on the court. Moore is a great dissenter but when she gets a majority, I often feels like she plays into the Court’s hands giving them silly seeming liberal opinions below to mangle entire areas of law. If you take that DaVita case from this term, she could’ve reached the same result without adopting disparate impact principles and getting the court’s conservatives’ attention for cert. Same could be said with the unnecessary issuance of the CADC panel opinion from millett/Pillard in WV v EPA that gave scotus an opportunity to mangle the CAA…

Clay is substantially more progressive than KNM, FWIW.

[Anonymous User]

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’m the guy who said Lynch was “nice.” I was going off the experience of one of my close law school friends who clerked for her and really enjoyed the experience. I met her once and had a positive reaction. But I’ll freely admit that’s anecdotal and small sample size, so she very well may be a bad boss and clerkship for many students. My bad.

On her ideology, I think she’s more liberal than folks are giving her credit for. Many liberal judges (like Breyer) are somewhat less progressive on crim issues—and the positive law reflects a strong pro-govt bias—but I’m not sure it’s fair to say she’s “conservative” for that reason.

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

For sure, there are more liberal judges overall and especially on crim. I guess I just bristle at using the word “conservative” to describe her ideology. Maybe moderate would be better. Semantics though, no doubt.

Fwiw I know that she’s very cognizant of not overreaching in light of the supreme court’s reactionary tendencies. I know she puts a lot of work into crafting more moderate opinions and compromises on the court. Moore is a great dissenter but when she gets a majority, I often feels like she plays into the Court’s hands giving them silly seeming liberal opinions below to mangle entire areas of law. If you take that DaVita case from this term, she could’ve reached the same result without adopting disparate impact principles and getting the court’s conservatives’ attention for cert. Same could be said with the unnecessary issuance of the CADC panel opinion from millett/Pillard in WV v EPA that gave scotus an opportunity to mangle the CAA…

Clay is substantially more progressive than KNM, FWIW.

Yeah, but he's fired a whole class of law clerks before, so there's that. Probably one of the very worst circuit clerkships available. Whereas a Moore clerkship is a great option for a liberal clerk.

[Chokenhauer]

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’m the guy who said Lynch was “nice.” I was going off the experience of one of my close law school friends who clerked for her and really enjoyed the experience. I met her once and had a positive reaction. But I’ll freely admit that’s anecdotal and small sample size, so she very well may be a bad boss and clerkship for many students. My bad.

On her ideology, I think she’s more liberal than folks are giving her credit for. Many liberal judges (like Breyer) are somewhat less progressive on crim issues—and the positive law reflects a strong pro-govt bias—but I’m not sure it’s fair to say she’s “conservative” for that reason.

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

For sure, there are more liberal judges overall and especially on crim. I guess I just bristle at using the word “conservative” to describe her ideology. Maybe moderate would be better. Semantics though, no doubt.

Fwiw I know that she’s very cognizant of not overreaching in light of the supreme court’s reactionary tendencies. I know she puts a lot of work into crafting more moderate opinions and compromises on the court. Moore is a great dissenter but when she gets a majority, I often feels like she plays into the Court’s hands giving them silly seeming liberal opinions below to mangle entire areas of law. If you take that DaVita case from this term, she could’ve reached the same result without adopting disparate impact principles and getting the court’s conservatives’ attention for cert. Same could be said with the unnecessary issuance of the CADC panel opinion from millett/Pillard in WV v EPA that gave scotus an opportunity to mangle the CAA…

Clay is substantially more progressive than KNM, FWIW.

Yeah, but he's fired a whole class of law clerks before, so there's that. Probably one of the very worst circuit clerkships available. Whereas a Moore clerkship is a great option for a liberal clerk.

But has he thrown anything at his clerks?

[Anonymous User]

Yeah I've heard that Lynch is straight-up conservative on a lot of criminal issues. At least she's going senior soon if Biden can just nominate a successor already - any speculation on who might replace her (or Howard)?

Gelpi's conservative/moderate bent is less surprising since he was appointed to the district court by Bush. Depending on who Biden nominates to replace Lynch and Howard, he could be the most conservative judge on CA1 (though I would bet that at least Howard's replacement will also be pretty moderate).

I’m the guy who said Lynch was “nice.” I was going off the experience of one of my close law school friends who clerked for her and really enjoyed the experience. I met her once and had a positive reaction. But I’ll freely admit that’s anecdotal and small sample size, so she very well may be a bad boss and clerkship for many students. My bad.

On her ideology, I think she’s more liberal than folks are giving her credit for. Many liberal judges (like Breyer) are somewhat less progressive on crim issues—and the positive law reflects a strong pro-govt bias—but I’m not sure it’s fair to say she’s “conservative” for that reason.

I think “conservative” for the First Circuit isn’t saying much. Lynch is quite liberal everywhere else, but I still think that there are stalwart liberals—take KNM/Clay on the Sixth—who seem to consistently side with defendants. I don’t think Lynch is like them in that regard.

For sure, there are more liberal judges overall and especially on crim. I guess I just bristle at using the word “conservative” to describe her ideology. Maybe moderate would be better. Semantics though, no doubt.

Fwiw I know that she’s very cognizant of not overreaching in light of the supreme court’s reactionary tendencies. I know she puts a lot of work into crafting more moderate opinions and compromises on the court. Moore is a great dissenter but when she gets a majority, I often feels like she plays into the Court’s hands giving them silly seeming liberal opinions below to mangle entire areas of law. If you take that DaVita case from this term, she could’ve reached the same result without adopting disparate impact principles and getting the court’s conservatives’ attention for cert. Same could be said with the unnecessary issuance of the CADC panel opinion from millett/Pillard in WV v EPA that gave scotus an opportunity to mangle the CAA…

Clay is substantially more progressive than KNM, FWIW.

Yeah, but he's fired a whole class of law clerks before, so there's that. Probably one of the very worst circuit clerkships available. Whereas a Moore clerkship is a great option for a liberal clerk.

But has he thrown anything at his clerks?

I would probably choose the chair-thrower over the class-firer, personally, but tough call. Not sure even Holmes (or other infamously bad bosses, like Hartz) has ever fired a single clerk, let alone a whole class.

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Is this widely known or just a rumor? Extremely high-performing liberal classmates that I know seem to all want to clerk for Berzon.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

YLS students know this: Berzon threw a stapler at a clerk.

Is this widely known or is it just a rumor? Extremely high-performing liberal classmates seem to all want to clerk for Berzon.

[Anonymous User]

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Excellent judge, yes, one of the best in the northeast..."nice," I've heard enough people say "no" that I'll push back here. Lynch is one of a very small number of judges on my school's red flag list, and I've heard persistent rumors about her being extremely demanding and having thrown things at clerks. I'm sure many Lynch clerks have had good experiences, but that reputation is out there enough that it's hard to ignore.

While we're on the subject, she's historically been the swing vote on CA1 and is nowhere near one of the most liberal federal judges.

Is this widely known or just a rumor? Extremely high-performing liberal classmates that I know seem to all want to clerk for Berzon.

Ditto on Lynch as not being that liberal. Her, and Howard (and so far Gelpí, oddly enough, with his voting record on CA1 so far) seem to be the closest thing to “conservative” on CA1.

(Did she really throw things at clerks? A lifetime appointment is a helluva drug. Can we get a list going on judges that do this? I’m only aware of Holmes and possibly Hartz doing this.)

YLS students know this: Berzon threw a stapler at a clerk.

Is this widely known or is it just a rumor? Extremely high-performing liberal classmates seem to all want to clerk for Berzon.

I hadn’t heard the stapler thing, but Berzon has a strong rep for being both brilliant and not the easiest boss

[Anonymous User]

Who is the easiest workload with respect to hours in CA9? Preferably with 1+ clerk sent to scotus already

[Anonymous User]

Who is the easiest workload with respect to hours in CA9? Preferably with 1+ clerk sent to scotus already

Gotta be Clifton, plus you’re in Hawaii, though he is unlikely to send you to SCOTUS even though he’s fed before if that’s your goal

Otherwise maybe Owens?

[Anonymous User]

Who is the easiest workload with respect to hours in CA9? Preferably with 1+ clerk sent to scotus already

Even for feeders like Owens with excellent work-life balance, you will only ever make SCOTUS by working laps around your coclerks. Decide early on if you're prepared to grind, and if not, spare yourself the year.

[Anonymous User]

Beyond circle jerking on here, hard to see how an occasional scotus hire really changes anything for Cabranes / Calabresi. The only reason “feeders” are generally thought to be more valuable clerkships for the long haul is because of (1) actual odds of getting to scotus, (2) their general stature if their feeding is the result of that, (3) general competitiveness of clerkship / co clerks. (1) is irrelevant here because your odds are not changed in this environment; left leaning clerks from any well respected judge have similar odds — low ones. (2) Calabresi is better known by a bit but all three are roughly similar in reputation. This is the only relevant distinction. (3) They’re all hiring the same people pretty much—mostly HYS top 1/3 qualified center-left academically minded people with excellent credentials but not gunning for scotus / at the very tip top of their class.

Lynch gets a bad rap on here but honestly she’s nice and an excellent judge. Carney can be difficult too from what I’ve heard.

Can you elaborate? I haven’t heard any accounts of Carney that are anything other than glowing (friendly, nice, very very smart, liberal but not extremely so, etc.) from folks at my school, so this is interesting. The only downside I’ve heard about is having to be in New Haven for the year lol

Given the recent CA2 appointees, would she fall somewhere near the middle ideologically on CA2 (but still decidedly liberal)?

Carney is probably to the left of the Biden appointees by a bit. I don’t think she’s that close to the median, it’s more or less an evenly-divided circuit, making the median someone with no discernible leaning like Parker or Kearse.