Best conservative judges to clerk for? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone reading this review should take it with a grain of salt: the author appears to have a personal grudge against ELB (tipped off by the author's failure to identify any of her supposedly "subpar" work product). ELB is one of the most dedicated mentors on the federal bench and is adored and beloved by her clerks. This past weekend, her clerks organized a five-year reunion event, which was attended by all but two of her current and former clerks. The dedication of those clerks to ELB should speak volumes about her personality and the experience of clerking for her. Further, unlike many other judges, ELB did not go remote during the pandemic and prioritizes spending time in-person with her clerks.

As to the quality of her work product--it speaks for itself. From her monumental opinions in Greater Birmingham Ministries, Winn-Dixie, and Black Votes Matter Fund; to her powerful dissents in Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, In re Wild, and Brown v. Azar, ELB has amassed a record of well-reasoned, clear-written, and substantively correct jurisprudence.

This doesn't sound biased at ALL.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone reading this review should take it with a grain of salt: the author appears to have a personal grudge against ELB (tipped off by the author's failure to identify any of her supposedly "subpar" work product). ELB is one of the most dedicated mentors on the federal bench and is adored and beloved by her clerks. This past weekend, her clerks organized a five-year reunion event, which was attended by all but two of her current and former clerks. The dedication of those clerks to ELB should speak volumes about her personality and the experience of clerking for her. Further, unlike many other judges, ELB did not go remote during the pandemic and prioritizes spending time in-person with her clerks.

As to the quality of her work product--it speaks for itself. From her monumental opinions in Greater Birmingham Ministries, Winn-Dixie, and Black Votes Matter Fund; to her powerful dissents in Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, In re Wild, and Brown v. Azar, ELB has amassed a record of well-reasoned, clear-written, and substantively correct jurisprudence.

This doesn't sound biased at ALL.

It’s definitely clear this person is a former Branch clerk. That said, I know quite a few people who clerked for Branch and all of them have raved about their experience, so I am not surprised by this individual’s defense of her. She may not be a feeder like Pryor, Newsom, and Grant (and she may in fact never send anyone to SCOTUS) but by all accounts that I’ve heard, clerking for her is a great experience.

I also disagree with the original poster who criticized her reasoning and written opinions. All judges get it wrong sometimes, and Branch is no exception (compare her opinion in Salcedo v. Hanna with Judge Oldham’s opinion in Cranor v. 5 Star Nutrition, LLC for example). But she is not some conservative hack who lacks intellectual chops like one poster on here would have you believe. She is not afraid to go against the other conservatives on the 11th Circuit which she thinks the law requires (In re Wild; and United States v. Garçon to a lesser extent).

All this to say, I don’t think a clerkship with Brasher is any more desirable than a clerkship with Branch, Lagoa, or Luck (unless you want to practice in Alabama and work in Alabama politics). All four are solid options for a conservative if you can’t land a clerkship with one of the 3 feeders on the 11th and any “desirability” of one over the other likely comes down to personal preference.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone reading this review should take it with a grain of salt: the author appears to have a personal grudge against ELB (tipped off by the author's failure to identify any of her supposedly "subpar" work product). ELB is one of the most dedicated mentors on the federal bench and is adored and beloved by her clerks. This past weekend, her clerks organized a five-year reunion event, which was attended by all but two of her current and former clerks. The dedication of those clerks to ELB should speak volumes about her personality and the experience of clerking for her. Further, unlike many other judges, ELB did not go remote during the pandemic and prioritizes spending time in-person with her clerks.

As to the quality of her work product--it speaks for itself. From her monumental opinions in Greater Birmingham Ministries, Winn-Dixie, and Black Votes Matter Fund; to her powerful dissents in Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, In re Wild, and Brown v. Azar, ELB has amassed a record of well-reasoned, clear-written, and substantively correct jurisprudence.

This doesn't sound biased at ALL.

It’s definitely clear this person is a former Branch clerk. That said, I know quite a few people who clerked for Branch and all of them have raved about their experience, so I am not surprised by this individual’s defense of her. She may not be a feeder like Pryor, Newsom, and Grant (and she may in fact never send anyone to SCOTUS) but by all accounts that I’ve heard, clerking for her is a great experience.

I also disagree with the original poster who criticized her reasoning and written opinions. All judges get it wrong sometimes, and Branch is no exception (compare her opinion in Salcedo v. Hanna with Judge Oldham’s opinion in Cranor v. 5 Star Nutrition, LLC for example). But she is not some conservative hack who lacks intellectual chops like one poster on here would have you believe. She is not afraid to go against the other conservatives on the 11th Circuit which she thinks the law requires (In re Wild; and United States v. Garçon to a lesser extent).

All this to say, I don’t think a clerkship with Brasher is any more desirable than a clerkship with Branch, Lagoa, or Luck (unless you want to practice in Alabama and work in Alabama politics). All four are solid options for a conservative if you can’t land a clerkship with one of the 3 feeders on the 11th and any “desirability” of one over the other likely comes down to personal preference.

This was a fun read -- thanks for suggesting it! It's always entertaining to see young conservative judges sparring.

This is stating the obvious, but the most fun of these intellectual jousts is the split between Newsom on the 11th and Oldham on the 5th in the Netchoice cases. Very entertaining stuff.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone reading this review should take it with a grain of salt: the author appears to have a personal grudge against ELB (tipped off by the author's failure to identify any of her supposedly "subpar" work product). ELB is one of the most dedicated mentors on the federal bench and is adored and beloved by her clerks. This past weekend, her clerks organized a five-year reunion event, which was attended by all but two of her current and former clerks. The dedication of those clerks to ELB should speak volumes about her personality and the experience of clerking for her. Further, unlike many other judges, ELB did not go remote during the pandemic and prioritizes spending time in-person with her clerks.

As to the quality of her work product--it speaks for itself. From her monumental opinions in Greater Birmingham Ministries, Winn-Dixie, and Black Votes Matter Fund; to her powerful dissents in Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, In re Wild, and Brown v. Azar, ELB has amassed a record of well-reasoned, clear-written, and substantively correct jurisprudence.

This doesn't sound biased at ALL.

It’s definitely clear this person is a former Branch clerk. That said, I know quite a few people who clerked for Branch and all of them have raved about their experience, so I am not surprised by this individual’s defense of her. She may not be a feeder like Pryor, Newsom, and Grant (and she may in fact never send anyone to SCOTUS) but by all accounts that I’ve heard, clerking for her is a great experience.

I also disagree with the original poster who criticized her reasoning and written opinions. All judges get it wrong sometimes, and Branch is no exception (compare her opinion in Salcedo v. Hanna with Judge Oldham’s opinion in Cranor v. 5 Star Nutrition, LLC for example). But she is not some conservative hack who lacks intellectual chops like one poster on here would have you believe. She is not afraid to go against the other conservatives on the 11th Circuit which she thinks the law requires (In re Wild; and United States v. Garçon to a lesser extent).

All this to say, I don’t think a clerkship with Brasher is any more desirable than a clerkship with Branch, Lagoa, or Luck (unless you want to practice in Alabama and work in Alabama politics). All four are solid options for a conservative if you can’t land a clerkship with one of the 3 feeders on the 11th and any “desirability” of one over the other likely comes down to personal preference.

I’m the “this doesn’t sound biased” anon, and this all makes perfect sense. I just wanted to clarify that 1) I know nothing about this judge so I didn’t mean to endorse or denigrate her ability; and 2) I can easily believe that her clerks love her and have a great experience, which is great. I just think anyone who calls their judge’s opinions “monumental” and their dissents “powerful” has been huffing way too many of their own farts.

(From what I can tell I’d personally disagree with the outcomes in most of those cases, but that’s obviously not the measure of whether they’re legally sound.)

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Kethledge and Easterbrook are the two who regularly wow me. Formerly Posner if you count him as conservative. Beyond that I think it depends on taste. Some prefer extra-dry (e.g. Miller, Park), some prefer extra-soupy (e.g. basically the entire Sixth Circuit). Partisans of each side tend to view the other as less good as a class—boring or hokey, respectively.

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Bibas.

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Sutton

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Roberts has to be up there, right? I love when he and Kagan write the opinion and a dissent, the rhetorical sparring is impressive

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Bibas.

I think Bibas is a good judge, but I don't like his writing style at all. It's so choppy and punchy.

[Anonymous User]

I think Bibas is a good judge, but I don't like his writing style at all. It's so choppy and punchy.

Anonymous commentary on internet forums serves an important role. But not all commentary is created equal. This Anonymous User has posted something truly dubious. He was within his right to do so, but we need not credit his observation, which was baseless. So we disregard it and affirm.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Bibas.

I think Bibas is a good judge, but I don't like his writing style at all. It's so choppy and punchy.

This encapsulates the great debate -- those who write in punchy, conversationalist style, and those who are more traditional. The conversationalists seem to include Bibas, Newsom, and Thapar (all of whom are good writers), while the traditionalists are Barrett, Roberts, etc. Then there are those in the middle, like Sutton and Kethledge

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Thoughts on Oldham's writing?

[Anonymous User]

Kevin Newsom and Ed Carnes are both excellent writers.

[Anonymous User]

I think Bibas is a good judge, but I don't like his writing style at all. It's so choppy and punchy.

Anonymous commentary on internet forums serves an important role. But not all commentary is created equal. This Anonymous User has posted something truly dubious. He was within his right to do so, but we need not credit his observation, which was baseless. So we disregard it and willaffirm.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

[Anonymous User]

I think Bibas is a good judge, but I don't like his writing style at all. It's so choppy and punchy.

Anonymous commentary on internet forums serves an important role. But not all commentary is created equal. This Anonymous User has posted something truly dubious. He was within his right to do so, but we need not credit his observation, which was baseless. So we disregard it and affirm.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

agree, extreme choppiness is to the “dry” style what gratuitous whisky references are to the “soupy” style. We get it, you’ve read Ross Guberman.

[Anonymous User]

Anonymous commentary on internet forums serves an important role. But not all commentary is created equal. This Anonymous User has posted something truly dubious. He was within his right to do so, but we need not credit his observation, which was baseless. So we disregard it and willaffirm.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Admitted: you got me.

[Anonymous User]

has anyone heard anything about the experience with Nalbandian?

I interviewed for him, got the impression that he had a laid-back personality, more on the informal side of things. His former clerks seemed to love him. Cincinnati is a nice town as well. Based on the information I got, it would be a good clerkship experience.

Echo this. On the bro-y side, but clerks seem to love him. He was one of Mitch McConnell's big Kentucky picks, so he's politically well-connected. The 6th Circuit Trump judges seem to all get along really well, along with Sutton and Kethledge. Nalbandian seems particularly close to Thapar and I have heard anecdotally that they are building a joint chambers in Covington.

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Kethledge and Easterbrook are the two who regularly wow me. Formerly Posner if you count him as conservative. Beyond that I think it depends on taste. Some prefer extra-dry (e.g. Miller, Park), some prefer extra-soupy (e.g. basically the entire Sixth Circuit). Partisans of each side tend to view the other as less good as a class—boring or hokey, respectively.

Not sure I'd characterize all of CA6 as extra soupy. Thapar has a pretty pithy style for example. Murphy isn't pithy, but his writing is pretty traditional. Bush is definitely soupy and gloppy though lol.

[Anonymous User]

has anyone heard anything about the experience with Nalbandian?

I interviewed for him, got the impression that he had a laid-back personality, more on the informal side of things. His former clerks seemed to love him. Cincinnati is a nice town as well. Based on the information I got, it would be a good clerkship experience.

Echo this. On the bro-y side, but clerks seem to love him. He was one of Mitch McConnell's big Kentucky picks, so he's politically well-connected. The 6th Circuit Trump judges seem to all get along really well, along with Sutton and Kethledge. Nalbandian seems particularly close to Thapar and I have heard anecdotally that they are building a joint chambers in Covington.

Ha I just remember at a FedSoc NLC panel, Nalbandian talked about how Oldham is the buffest judge on the panel and asked him to "flash his guns." Seems like a cool guy.

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Bibas.

I think Bibas is a good judge, but I don't like his writing style at all. It's so choppy and punchy.

I have the same problem with Willett's writing. It is taking the "punchy, plain English" style to an extreme that becomes unreadable. It is okay to have a sentence that is longer than ten words sometimes.

Also not a fan of Ho's attempts at rhetorical flourishes (the close to his dissent in the recent SEAL vaccine case is nausea inducing).

For my money, Oldham is the best writer on the Fifth Circuit.

[Anonymous User]

Who are the best conservative writers on the federal bench?

Sutton

+1

[Anonymous User]

Kevin Newsom and Ed Carnes are both excellent writers.

Great shout with Carnes. He may get overlooked among the higher-profile, younger judges on the 11th but he's one of the best.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have any intel into how the experience is with Judge Sykes?

[Anonymous User]

In terms of raw intellectual horsepower -- who is the smartest conservative judge?