(Updated) Feeder Judge Rankings
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 3:20 pm
I was surprised to find that nobody has tabulated an updated ranking of feeder judges, current through OT 2019. Given that I found these numbers helpful in my own clerkship search, I thought they'd be helpful to others as well.
These numbers are for OTs 2010 through 2019, for judges who have fed at least two clerks to the Supremes. If you're just interested in the totals, you can look at the last column. But I thought it was interesting to see the breakdowns by justice as well. The chart currently includes both Justices Scalia and Gorsuch.
Obviously Kavanaugh and Garland are the heavy hitters. Over the last three terms, Kavanaugh has come to outpace Garland.
The top-line totals hide some of the feeding power of more recently appointed judges. So I've calculated per-term numbers below:
This tabulation shows that Srinivasan, Pillard, Watford, and Barron — who were all appointed by President Obama — are posting impressive per-term numbers. No other circuit-level Obama appointee has fed more than one clerk to the Court.
I also thought it would be interesting to see which judges fed to which half of the Supremes. For instance, despite Garland's placement on the Court, he hasn't fed a clerk to Alito, Gorsuch, or Thomas (or Scalia) in the last ten years. Similarly, of the 28 clerks that Kavanaugh has fed in the last ten years, only 5 of them have been to the left of the Court.
Here are the per term numbers for judges feeding to the left of the Court (SS, RBG, EK, SB):
Notably, Kavanaugh, Sutton, and Wilkinson drop out of the top five. Srinivasan, Fletcher, Reinhardt, and Pillard begin to look like heavy hitters.
Here are the same numbers for the right (JR, SA, NMG, CT, and AS):
Kavanaugh dominates the field, while Garland drops out of the top ten. Sutton, Wilkinson, Pryor, and Griffith move up.
These numbers are for OTs 2010 through 2019, for judges who have fed at least two clerks to the Supremes. If you're just interested in the totals, you can look at the last column. But I thought it was interesting to see the breakdowns by justice as well. The chart currently includes both Justices Scalia and Gorsuch.
Code: Select all
Judge SS RBG EK SB AMK JR SA NMG CT (AS) Total
Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.) 2 - 2 1 5 11 2 - - 5 28
Garland (D.C. Cir.) 1 5 9 7 2 3 - - - - 27
Sutton (6th Cir.) 2 - 1 1 2 3 4 1 1 5 20
Wilkinson (4th Cir.) 1 1 3 - 3 3 1 1 5 2 20
Katzmann (2d Cir.) 5 8 - 4 2 - - - - - 19
Tatel (D.C. Cir.) 4 8 3 1 - 1 - - - - 17
Griffith (D.C. Cir.) - - 2 1 1 4 4 - 2 - 14
W. Pryor (11th Cir.) - - - - 1 - 3 - 7 1 12
Srinivasan (D.C. Cir.) 1 1 5 - - 3 - - - - 10
O'Scannlain (9th Cir.) - - - - 1 1 2 1 3 1 9
Reinhardt (9th Cir.) 4 - 2 1 2 - - - - - 9
W. Fletcher (9th Cir.) 2 2 3 2 - - - - - - 9
Kethledge (6th Cir.) - - - - 4 3 - - - 1 8
Sentelle (D.C. Cir.) - - - 1 - 1 - - 4 - 6
Boudin (1st Cir.) - 1 1 2 - - - - - 1 5
Calabresi (2d Cir.) 2 - - 3 - - - - - - 5
E. Jones (5th Cir.) - - - - - - 1 - 3 1 5
Scirica (3d Cir.) - 1 1 1 - - 2 - - - 5
Carnes (11th Cir.) - - - - - - - - 3 1 4
Pillard (D.C. Cir.) 2 - - 2 - - - - - - 4
Randolph (D.C. Cir.) - 1 - - - 2 - - - 1 4
Watford (9th Cir.) 1 2 - - 1 - - - - - 4
D. Ginsburg (D.C. Cir.) - - - - - 1 1 - - 1 3
Livingston (2d Cir.) - 1 - - - 1 1 - - - 3
Niemeyer (4th Cir.) 1 - - - - 1 - - - 1 3
Barron (1st Cir.) - 1 - 1 - - - - - - 2
Berzon (9th Cir.) 1 1 - - - - - - - - 2
Cabranes (2d Cir.) - - - - - 1 - - 1 - 2
Chagares (3d Cir.) - 1 - - - - 1 - - - 2
Colloton (8th Cir.) - - - - - 1 - - - 1 2
Henderson (D.C. Cir.) - - - - - - - - 2 - 2
Ikuta (9th Cir.) - - - - 1 - - - - 1 2
J. Rogers (D.C. Cir.) - - 1 1 - - - - - - 2
J. E. Smith (5th Cir.) - - - - - - 2 - - - 2
McKeown (9th Cir.) 1 1 - - - - - - - - 2
The top-line totals hide some of the feeding power of more recently appointed judges. So I've calculated per-term numbers below:
Code: Select all
Judge Clerks/term
Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.) 2.80
Garland (D.C. Cir.) 2.70
Sutton (6th Cir.) 2.00
Wilkinson (4th Cir.) 2.00
Katzmann (2d Cir.) 1.90
Tatel (D.C. Cir.) 1.70
Srinivasan (D.C. Cir.) 1.67
Griffith (D.C. Cir.) 1.40
W. Pryor (11th Cir.) 1.20
O'Scannlain (9th Cir.) 0.90
Reinhardt (9th Cir.) 0.90
W. Fletcher (9th Cir.) 0.90
Kethledge (6th Cir.) 0.80
Pillard (D.C. Cir.) 0.67
Sentelle (D.C. Cir.) 0.60
Watford (9th Cir.) 0.57
Boudin (1st Cir.) 0.50
Calabresi (2d Cir.) 0.50
E. Jones (5th Cir.) 0.50
Scirica (3d Cir.) 0.50
Barron (1st Cir.) 0.40
Carnes (11th Cir.) 0.40
Randolph (D.C. Cir.) 0.40
D. Ginsburg (D.C. Cir.) 0.30
Livingston (2d Cir.) 0.30
Niemeyer (4th Cir.) 0.30
Berzon (9th Cir.) 0.20
Cabranes (2d Cir.) 0.20
Chagares (3d Cir.) 0.20
Colloton (8th Cir.) 0.20
Henderson (D.C. Cir.) 0.20
Ikuta (9th Cir.) 0.20
J. Rogers (D.C. Cir.) 0.20
J. E. Smith (5th Cir.) 0.20
McKeown (9th Cir.) 0.20
I also thought it would be interesting to see which judges fed to which half of the Supremes. For instance, despite Garland's placement on the Court, he hasn't fed a clerk to Alito, Gorsuch, or Thomas (or Scalia) in the last ten years. Similarly, of the 28 clerks that Kavanaugh has fed in the last ten years, only 5 of them have been to the left of the Court.
Here are the per term numbers for judges feeding to the left of the Court (SS, RBG, EK, SB):
Code: Select all
Judge Liberal clerks/term
Garland (D.C. Cir.) 2.20
Katzmann (2d Cir.) 1.70
Tatel (D.C. Cir.) 1.60
Srinivasan (D.C. Cir.) 1.17
W. Fletcher (9th Cir.) 0.90
Reinhardt (9th Cir.) 0.70
Pillard (D.C. Cir.) 0.67
Calabresi (2d Cir.) 0.50
Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.) 0.50
Wilkinson (4th Cir.) 0.50
Watford (9th Cir.) 0.43
Barron (1st Cir.) 0.40
Boudin (1st Cir.) 0.40
Sutton (6th Cir.) 0.40
Griffith (D.C. Cir.) 0.30
Scirica (3d Cir.) 0.30
Here are the same numbers for the right (JR, SA, NMG, CT, and AS):
Code: Select all
Judge Conservative clerks/term
Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.) 1.80
Sutton (6th Cir.) 1.40
Wilkinson (4th Cir.) 1.20
W. Pryor (11th Cir.) 1.10
Griffith (D.C. Cir.) 1.00
O'Scannlain (9th Cir.) 0.80
E. Jones (5th Cir.) 0.50
Sentelle (D.C. Cir.) 0.50
Srinivasan (D.C. Cir.) 0.50
Carnes (11th Cir.) 0.40
Kethledge (6th Cir.) 0.40
D. Ginsburg (D.C. Cir.) 0.30
Garland (D.C. Cir.) 0.30
Randolph (D.C. Cir.) 0.30