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Washington Post Features Weiden's Provocative Book
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The Washington Post recently featured Assistant Professor of Politics and Government David Weiden’s new book, Sorcerers’ Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court. In the book, published by NYU Press, Weiden and his co-author Artemus Ward examine the question, “Do clerks make actual decisions, which are then imparted to justices, or are clerks only research assistants, carrying out the instructions of the decision makers, the justices?” Weiden and Ward then reveal the unique relationship between clerk and justice as sometimes being more than just informational. The book’s provocative hypothesis is that Supreme Court clerks have not only written judicial opinions, but have also made significant decisions about cases. “Based on judicial working papers and extensive interviews, the authors have compiled the most complete picture to date of the transformation of Supreme Court law clerks from stenographers to ghost-writers,” said Dennis J. Hutchinson, editor of The Supreme Court Review.

Weiden’s comprehensive examination of how the role of the law clerk has changed over time is based on Supreme Court archives, the personal papers of justices and other figures at the Supreme Court, and interviews and written surveys from 150 former Supreme Court law clerks. Charles Lane in the Washington Post highlights several interesting findings discussed by Ward and Weiden. One is of an anonymous clerk of Sandra Day O’Connor who says that O’Connor “never revised his [opinion] drafts.” Another is from recently released archives of Justice Harry A. Blackmun. In these archives, memos from clerks during a pivotal 1992 abortion case were found to be giving explicit political advice to Blackmun, a pro-abortion rights justice. The Post also cites an example of an ambitious clerk, who originally applied to work for Justice Earl Warren. When that opportunity did not work out, he became a clerk to Justice Arthur J. Goldberg, and now sits on the Supreme Court himself as Justice Stephen Breyer. The book concludes by offering suggestions for reforming the institution of the Supreme Court clerk. “There are serious questions about whether these young law clerks should have the influence that they do on the output of the Court. For example, the clerks generally draft the opinions of the Court with very little revision by the justices, and these opinions constitute law through the agency of legal precedent. This is a relatively recent phenomenon at the Court, and one that may not be optimal for our political and judicial system,” said Weiden. “The book discusses several proposals to reduce clerk influence; however, we note that it is highly unlikely that any of these reforms will succeed.”

DavidWeiden
Weiden joined the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State in 2005 as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Legal Studies Program. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for his training in political science and the University of Denver, College of Law for his legal training. He also holds a B.A. in Political Science and Theatre from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before coming to Illinois State, Weiden was the Assistant Director of the Docking Institute of Public Affairs and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University, and also served as an Assistant Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. With a background as both an attorney and social scientist, Weiden’s research interests include the U.S. Supreme Court, comparative judicial systems, and criminal justice policy.

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