Law clerk

Law clerk

A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...

s have assisted Supreme Court Justices in various capacities since the first one was hired by Justice Horace Gray

Horace Gray

Horace Gray was an American jurist who ultimately served on the United States Supreme Court. He was active in public service and a great philanthropist to the City of Boston.-Early life:...

 in the 1880s. By the traditions and rules that have developed around this procedure today Associate Justices

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...

 on the Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 have the opportunity to select four law clerks each term of the court. The Chief Justice

Chief Justice of the United States

The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...

 is allowed five clerks, though late Chief Justice Rehnquist

William Rehnquist

William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States...

 usually only hired three.

The following is a still-incomplete table of Supreme Court law clerks who served the Justice holding Seat 2.

• The names of Justices who are active ( Justice Sonia Sotomayor's appointment on August 8, 2009) are in bold.

This seat was established on September 24, 1789 by the Judiciary Act of 1789 Judiciary Act of 1789 The United States Judiciary Act of 1789 was a landmark statute adopted on September 24, 1789 in the first session of the First United States Congress establishing the U.S. federal judiciary...  [see 1 Stat. 73].

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