Books Examine Changing Role of Supreme Court Clerks

Two recently published books take a critical look at how the role of Supreme Court clerks has evolved over time.

Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk, by Todd C. Peppers (Stanford University Press, paperback $21.95) traces the history of Supreme Court clerkships to the early part of the 20th century. Peppers argues that the power some clerks have today to draft opinions for their justices and to act as 'ambassadors' between their justices and others is unprecedented, but is also probably here to stay, simply because of the workload of the modern Court. If clerks were not able to perform the functions they do now, Congress would probably have to add more justices to the Supreme Court or create an additional, 'back-up' court to deal with the number and complexity of cases being brought forward, Peppers says.

Artemus Ward and David L. Weiden, by contrast, look at how willing clerks are to play an activist role in Supreme Court decision-making, in Sorcerers' Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court (New York University Press, hardcover, $39). Ward and Weiden, who are political scientists by training, say that their research found that more of today's clerks say they 'often' tried to shape a justice's views than was the case in past decades.

Source: "Law Clerks: Who's That Whispering in the Justice's Ear?," by Emily Bazelon (book review) - the Washington Post Book World, July 9, 2006