Law Schools That Send the Most Attorneys to United States Supreme Court Clerkships

After Harvard and Yale, the only other law schools that have sent more than 100 law clerks to the Supreme Court since 1960 are the University of Chicago Law School (148 clerks); Stanford University Law School (139 clerks); Columbia Law School (114 clerks); and the University of Virginia School of Law (112 clerks).

Eleven law schools turned out just two SCOTUS clerks since 1960 and another 31 schools turned out just one. Many other law schools have never seen even one of their graduates obtain a clerkship for a United States Supreme Court justice.

Importance of Supreme Court Law Clerks

Being a Supreme Court law clerk is an extremely prestigious and intellectually demanding position, and it can open many professional doors for the remainder of an attorney’s career. SCOTUS law clerk positions are highly, highly selective, and contenders must generally have earned top grades at top law schools and done extensive legal research and writing in a law review context. Moreover, most judicial clerks come to SCOTUS having already completed at least one significant clerkship for a judge on one of the country’s Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Law clerks perform essential roles for the justices for whom they work and are integral parts of the Supreme Court ecosystem. Though each justice has his or her own way of utilizing and mentoring his or her clerks, the basic job of a Supreme Court law clerk is to assist the justices get through their workload. This means helping organize and prioritize the voluminous legal challenges that get filed in the Supreme Court each year, researching and writing about cutting-edge and controversial legal issues, helping draft opinions, serving as sounding boards for the justices, and—at the highest level—helping justices develop and hone their legal philosophies and legacies.

Each Associate Justice is allowed four judicial law clerks, while the Chief Justice gets five.

Many former clerks go on to important positions in private legal practice and in various government positions. In some cases, former Supreme Court clerks have become Supreme Court Justices themselves, as was the case with Byron White; John Paul Stevens; William Rehnquist; Stephen Breyer; John Robert; and Elena Kagan. If confirmed, Neil Gorsuch will join this group, as Gorsuch clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Implications for Elite Law School Domination of the Supreme Court

While few would question the intellectual ability of a top student from a top law school like Harvard or Yale to handle the analytical rigors of a Supreme Court clerkship, some question whether a high court dominated by a few elite schools and their graduates is wise for the country and for the evolution of the law. The idea is that the Supreme Court—which influences every aspect of our lives as citizens in fundamental ways—might benefit from having a wider variety of backgrounds, voices, and perspectives.

Critics of the elite composition of the Court believe that the “law of the land” should reflect the experiences, education, and ways of understanding and interpreting the Constitution of many different types of qualified jurists, including those who were educated within the “intellectual bubbles” of Harvard or Yale, but also including many other brilliant and insightful people who were educated at places besides Harvard and Yale. Advocates of a less homogenous Court believe that diversity will enhance the evolution of the law and ensure that seminal decisions that change lives and move society in different directions are as fair and representative as possible.

The numbers are clear: Graduates of Harvard Law School and Yale Law School dominate our Supreme Court. They fill the seats of the Justices and they fill the seats of the judicial law clerks who provide the intellectual and organizational support for those Justices.