Former clerks describe Garland as demanding but kind, with no preconceived notions about cases
Judge Merrick Garland. Photo provided by the White House.
Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland had no preconceived notions about case outcomes as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, according to his current and former law clerks.
The National Law Journal (sub. req.) interviewed 42 of his 75 past and present clerks, and none had anything bad to say about him. According to the article, the clerks “collectively described a boss who was demanding but kind, and who stayed active in their lives well after the yearlong clerkship ended.”
At the beginning of a case, Garland would review hard copies of all related documents and he would master the material. After oral arguments, Garland often asked his clerks if he had been too hard on the lawyers and whether he had showed respect.
Though Garland’s clerks wrote first-draft opinions for him, he would usually rewrite the entire opinion. “In the final stage,” the National Law Journal reports, “clerks joined him at a standing desk in his office, and they would read each line—every word and punctuation mark—aloud. Garland preferred to do markups with a pencil.”
Garland didn’t want activists as clerks, though he did want people who were smart and opinionated. Nearly all his clerks came from Harvard, Yale and Stanford law schools, according to a separate National Law Journal (sub. req.) story. Forty-six of his clerks went on to clerk for Supreme Court justices. Most then end up working for the federal government or large law firms.
Garland ate lunch with his clerks and showed an interest in their personal lives. He particularly enjoyed April Fool’s Day, according to clerks who staged a feud about office space in a 2014 April Fool’s Day prank. Garland wasn’t fooled, but he appeared to appreciate the effort, a former clerk told the National Law Journal.
Sixty-eight former Garland clerks called for consideration of Garland’s nomination in a letter to U.S. Senate leaders, according to this National Law Journal story (sub. req.). Current Garland clerks and those clerking for Supreme Court justices did not sign the letter.
