Justice Clarence Thomas' 84 clerks were all trained by judges appointed by GOP president

[Liberal_in_LA]

A Sign of the Court’s Polarization: Choice of Clerks
By ADAM LIPTAK

Published: September 6, 2010

WASHINGTON — Each year, 36 young lawyers obtain the most coveted credential in American law: a Supreme Court clerkship. Clerking for a justice is a glittering capstone on a résumé that almost always includes outstanding grades at a top law school, service on a law review and a prestigious clerkship with a federal appeals court judge.

Justice Clarence Thomas apparently has one additional requirement. Without exception, the 84 clerks he has chosen over his two decades on the court all first trained with an appeals court judge appointed by a Republican president.

That unbroken ideological commitment is just the most extreme example of a recent and seldom examined form of political polarization on the Supreme Court. These days the more conservative justices are much more likely than were their predecessors to hire clerks who worked for judges appointed by Republicans. And the more liberal justices are more likely than in the past to hire from judges appointed by Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/us/politics/07clerks.html?_r=1&hpw

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. I'd expect the opposite, too.

:shrug:

[sharp_stick]

2. It's become almost universal

If you read the whole article it seems like it's been awhile since Justices would try to balance out their offices at all.

I'd be interested to see how Kennedy ranks? Being as in the center as he is it would have been useful to point out his clerks as well.

[OHdem10]

3. The Federalist Society has been shaping them since law school

This is what happens when you have a party with a philosophy,
and goals they intend to reach. You have to hand it to the
Conservative Movement.

Movements get things done not parties.