An article in the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly proposes that Congress should do away with the U.S. Supreme Court’s law clerks. Supreme Court Justices have it too good, what with their extensive world travels and summer vacations. The Atlantic Monthly suggests that eliminating clerks for the U.S. Supreme Court would force the Justices to really work for the money and also remove much of the political context from the Justices’ decisions. The authors of the piece presuppose that the Justices themselves are above the sway of politics but the kids who work for them stay up late sneaking political agendas into each Justice’s decisions.



The gang at SCOTUSblog (http://www.scotusblog.com) question the sincerity of the authors and doubt that getting rid of Supreme Court clerks would be much of a benefit. They take particular umbrage at the notion that it requires an act of Congress. They do concede, however, that the Justices should be writing their own decisions and not their clerks.