[Orin Kerr, September 29, 2006 at 1:10pm] Trackbacks
U of C Faculty Blog:
I'm going to be doing some occasional posting this fall at the University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog as a Visiting Associate Blogger guest blogger. My first post is now up: Are Feeder Judges Unusually Ideological? If So, Why?
frankcross (mail):
I've always assumed that SCT justices take clerks from feeder judges whose opinions they trust most. And I assumed that they most trusted those of likeminded ideology. But this assumes that the feeder and justice share that ideology, which isn't always the case.

I suspect there's also a lot of path dependence here -- once a feeder judge first gets the reputation as a feeder judge, the best candidates go for that judge. And they go to the Supremes in part because they are the best candidates.
9.29.2006 3:49pm
elChato (mail):
Do Supreme Court justices really prefer people who share their views? Seems like they could benefit from having some kid working 15 hours a day who could sometimes point out the weak points in the boss's position.
9.30.2006 4:38pm