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SCOTUS
Aug
21
Rehnquist on Dixie and Minority Law Clerks
Filed Under SCOTUS • Leave a Comment
During his time on the bench, the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist was called racially insensitive and clandestine. We don’t cast judgement here; however, his writings do seem to suggest he had quite the sense of humor.
A letter among his papers at the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University contained the following remarks about African American concerns regarding Rehnquist’s singing Dixie and the lack of minority Supreme Court Law Clerks.
From BLT:
Rehnquist said, “I really feel that it does not bode well for race relations in this country if people constantly strain to find some basis for taking offense.” Rehnquist continued, “I am also glad that you agree with the Court’s position as to the hiring of minority law clerks; the pool of applicants whom we consider is not a large one, and there are not many minorities in it. I think some of our critics, because the position uses the term ‘clerk,’ imagine that it is some sort of entry level position, which of course it is not.”
Jan
29
Danielle with Mom and President Obama
We’ve reported before on the bright future that awaits SCOTUS clerks. Well, Danielle Gray’s star is on the rise. A former clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer, Danielle took a leave of absence from Skadden to be Deputy National Policy Director for the Obama campaign. Now she’s headed to the White House. TheNewsReview has a great profile on Gray.
Here are some tidbits from UnderneathTheirRobes:
(a) after clerking for Big Pimpin’ Feeder Judge Merrick Garland, Danielle Gray worked on the policy staff of Barack Obama’s Senate campaign, then joined the Washington office of O’Melveny & Myers (her current place of employment);
(b) originally from Long Island, she went down south to Duke for college;
(c) not surprisingly, she is “an ardentBlue Devils fan,” who “adores J.J. Redickand most of all Coach K”;
(d) “she performed superbly in a 1L Ames [moot court] competition against two current members of the Elect, Michael Gottlieb and [Dorothy] Hien Tran (who were also outstanding, and who are now Danielle’s good friends)”;
(e) Danielle “came up with an incisive interpretation of Shaw v. Reno during a Law of Democracy class at Harvard Law School that was thereafter known as the ‘Gray Thesis’ (I’m not positive, but the Gray Thesis may have shown up on the exam)”;
(f) she was one of the three primary authors of the Harvard BLSA (Black Law Students Association) amicus brief in Grutter v. Bollinger;
(g) she was voted “most likely to be a Supreme Court justice” by the HLS class of 2003 (the honor won by future Stevens clerk Sam Spital in 2004);
(h) she has “a keen sense of humor”; and
(i) she is “an all-around delightful person,” “one of the most charming people you’ll ever meet” — “[i]f you don’t like Danielle, you are per se a bad person!”
OBABL searched high and low for a picture of Jason Green. Though we were unable to find one, the facts we picked up–raised in the affluent black DC suburb of Prince George’s County, the son of a minister, his ease with the audience at an A.M.E. church–give us confidence that Green is indeed a brother. A profile we found on Green suggests either Green is a genius or Yale isn’t as tough as one might think. While attending YLS, the campaigner headed religious outreach efforts in PG County for now-Maryland Gov. O’Malley then spent his 3rd year mailing his law exams back to Yale from the Obama campaign trail. Way to get your hustle on, son. From LasVegasSun:
At First African Methodist Episcopal Church in North Las Vegas on Sunday, Green, in a conservative blue suit, grooved to the fast, virtuosic performance of the choir. Then when the Rev. Ralph Williamson introduced him and gave a taste of his bio, the crowd nodded their heads in deep approval. He stood poised in a front pew.
“Hello, church,” he said, which is the proper greeting at A.M.E.
“You know, these are turbulent times. We are in the midst of an escalating war. Economic reports show that we aren’t producing jobs at the rate we should. More than 47 million Americans don’t have health care. And here in our community children are senselessly shooting one another. And yet, despite these trials and tribulations, I know that we are on the precipice of great things - that we are on the verge of triumph. My friends, I know that we, as a people of faith, can visualize a brighter day. When others see turmoil we see an opportunity to uplift; when others see conflict we find synthesis; and when others look down we stand up!”
The crowd responded: “That’s right.”
“All the great social movements of American history began in the church - from the banning of the scourge of slavery from our shores to the enfranchisement of women to the civil rights movement.”
Mmmhmmm, said the crowd.
If Obama himself had been there, it’s not clear he would have won any more caucus votes than 26-year-old Green did.
