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Clerking
Prof. An Althouse suggests, First, fire all the law clerks.
One of my amazements during my 9 year stint in Washington was how often people were appointed to high rank, and then wound up delegating their intellectual duties to folks who were wet behind the ears. Legislators who knew almost nothing of the bills before them, and were letting haughty young pups represent them to the public and handle the business of legislating. Markup sessions where the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote on amending a bill, and the vote be to do something general and let staff draft the actual amendment (which would not be voted upon), the staff being folks (then, when I was in my late 20s) no older than I and with zero courtroom experience.
Comments
My wife clerked for the chief justice of a state supreme court and she sometimes points me to the opinions she wrote. Basically, the judge would tell her what he wanted the opinion to say and left the rest up to her (i.e., finding precedent, specific language if it was needed, etc.).
I don't know if that judge played any active role in editing or rewriting.
Posted by: King of the Cows at June 7, 2006 07:54 AM