Why Did Two of Judge Aileen Cannon’s Law Clerks Suddenly Quit?
Donald Trump’s favorite judge is suddenly losing law clerks.
Judge Aileen Cannon has been moving alarmingly slowly in setting up a trial date for Donald Trump’s classified documents criminal case—but it may not be a bid to help out the man who appointed her.
As of Thursday, the Florida judge had lost at least two law clerks in the last six months, who up and quit on her rather than finish out their one-year terms, according to several sources within Cannon’s legal circuit that spoke with attorney David Lat.
The rarity of multiple clerks leaving their posts can’t be understated, especially considering that judges typically hire just two or three clerks per annum. As Lat notes in his Substack Original Jurisdiction, “a law clerk’s role is substantive, not clerical or administrative.” Clerks are more like a judge’s right and left hands—they help the judiciary conduct research, prepare for trials, and draft opinions. Clerkships are highly competitive, and one serving a federal judge would otherwise be considered résumé gold, so it’s certainly curious that they seem to be fleeing her bench.
Clerking for a federal judge is a huge get.
It exposes you to trail, a diversity of legal cases, and how a judge thinks. There aren't a lot of federal judges and the people that clerk for them tend to come from prestigious schools and the top of their class.
Of course, that can't be great when the judge you are working for is a partisan hack who had zero court experience before becoming a judge and did not clerk for a federal judge. She was one of many Trump appointees the bar association ranked as "unqualified".
But she cozied up to the federalist society, which is how she got appointed.
So basically these clerks were probably more qualified than their boss?
Failing up is amazing
Actually.. yeah. And they had better education