Souter's Tribe
Justice's legacy tied to the 72 lawyers who clerked for him.
Tony Mauro
May 11, 2009
The legacy of retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter can be discovered, not only in his 140 majority opinions over 18 years, but at law schools, law firms and public service workplaces across the nation.
That is where Souter's 72 former law clerks, a "notoriously loyal tribe" in the words of one, have fanned out after their intense and deeply affecting year with the justice who announced his retirement plans on May 1. Some have taken up liberal causes, while others are making their mark in government service or corporate law. Most were planning to gather at the Court on May 9 for their annual reunion with Souter, an event sure to be more emotional than in the past. Extra port has been ordered for the evening.
The clerks' deep bond with Souter, and their sense that they are carrying on his work and values in their careers, will lengthen Souter's shadow of influence and deepen his legacy, said Harvey Rishikof, law professor at the National War College and former administrative assistant to Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
"The way a justice lives on is in his clerk family," said Rishikof, co-author of a forthcoming Vanderbilt Law Review article that explores the "enormous influence" a justice's clerks exert on the legal profession and the law after they leave the high court. Each justice has a different "clerk footprint," Rishikof said, describing Souter's as "tending more toward the academy" than other justices', whose clerks mostly head into private practice.
Indeed, half of the Souter clerks whose current status can be determined teach law, which Rishikof's paper suggests is higher than any other current justice. Fewer than 20% of conservative justices' clerks have become law professors, according to Rishikof.
Three Souter clerks teach at the University of Michigan Law School and two each at Harvard, Columbia, Duke, Berkeley, George Washington, New York University, Fordham and Boston College. "I've heard tell that the justice himself has remarked that he's become a 'feeder judge' for our faculty," said Michigan Law Dean Evan Caminker.
At Yale Law School, Heather Gerken, who clerked for Souter 13 years ago, confessed that, "When I write, I still am writing for Justice Souter."
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http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/legaltimes/PubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202430579137&Souters_Tribe&slreturn=1
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