Justice Thomas on Supreme Court Clerk Hiring: “I’m not part of this . . . faux nobility”

Adam Liptak writes at the NY Times: “They referred to my clerks last year as TTT — third-tier trash,” he [Justice Thomas] told students at the University of Florida in February. “That’s the attitude that you’re up against.” . . . “I have a preference, actually, for non-Ivy League law clerks, simply because I think clerks should come from a wide range of backgrounds,” he said. “I don’t have that pedigree. I’m not part of this sort of new or faux nobility.”

Polarization of Clerks by Political Party and related article Polarization of Supreme Court Is Reflected in Justices’ Clerks — “We are getting a composition of the clerk work force that is getting to be like the House of Representatives,” Professor Garrow said. “Each side is putting forward only ideological purists.”