New in SCOTUSBlog: “Break The Supreme Court Law Clerk Cartel”

My final installment on unilateral Court reform addresses the law clerk problem. In short, I want to break the cartel.

First, the justice should ask all of their clerks, following their clerkship, to work for two years in government service, for a non-profit, or some other public interest work.

Second, I have proposed that the justices should spend part of their time working in the courthouses across the country.

The third proposal will perhaps be the most draconian: the clerks should be barred from talking about cases with anyone in other chambers.

And here are my concluding thoughts:

My sincere hope is that this series will generate discourse and debate. Unlike most proposals for court reform, these ideas should garner bipartisan support. None of them purport to change how many justices there are and how they decide cases. All of these proposals would maintain the independence of the court. Indeed, many of these ideas could be adopted by the justices unilaterally. Ultimately, the justices should not be bystanders in debates about SCOTUS reform. If the justices take the initiative to adopt reforms on their own, the impetus for external reform will decline. These changes would not only be good for the court but society as a whole.

Much more to come soon.