Legal News

A Stevens Step-Down? Clerk Hiring Leading to Speculation

By Ashby Jones

Is this the way a 33-year run on the Supreme Court will end? Not with a bang but with whispered speculation about clerk hires?

It seems like, well, maybe. According to an AP story out Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has hired fewer law clerks than usual, generating speculation that the leader of the court’s liberal wing will retire next year.

The old law-clerk-hiring-as-early-detection-system isn’t always foolproof, but it worked with Justice David Souter. His failure to hire clerks was the first signal that he was contemplating leaving the court. Shortly after that news broke, Souter made the announcement of his departure.

Justice Stevens, 89, joined the court in 1975 and is the second-oldest justice in the court’s history, after Oliver Wendell Holmes. He is the seventh-longest-serving justice, with more than 33 years and eight months on the court. He is also a member of the LB Bow Tie Club.

In response to a question from The Associated Press, Stevens confirmed through a court spokeswoman on Tuesday that he has hired only one clerk for the term that begins in October 2010. He is among several justices who typically have hired all four clerks for the following year by now.

Stevens did not say whether he plans to hire his full allotment of clerks or whether he will leave the court at the conclusion of the term that begins next month. Retired justices are allowed to hire one clerk.

Former law clerks said the justice has for years hired all his clerks at once, usually in June or July of the year preceding their appointment. “I’d be surprised if he hired one but not four,” said Columbia University law professor Jamal Greene, who worked for Stevens in 2006 and 2007.

But as to what that might mean, Greene said, “Frankly, your guess is as good as mine.”

But one former clerk, University of Oklahoma law professor Joseph Thai, said he takes it as a sign that Stevens is likely to retire soon.

“It seems to indicate that he probably won’t go beyond the current term,” Thai said, cautioning that Stevens has said nothing to him about leaving.

Let the parlor chat about a Stevens replacement begin.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 02, 2009 (boomark / email).