Justice Stevens's OT 2005 Clerks (and Happy Birthday, JPS!)

Article III Groupie continues to be underwater at work and without much time to blog. If you need any further evidence of this, consider her complete failure to blog about the dénouement of "Guidogate" (which ended with Judge Calabresi receiving the proverbial slap on the wrist).* Nor has A3G blogged about David Garrow's fascinating new article in Legal Affairs, concerning Justice Harry Blackmun's excessive reliance on his law clerks during his time on the Supreme Court.**

But A3G soldiers on, trying to keep her head above water in the office while doing a minimal amount of blogging. She realizes that she has been neglecting her email, for which she apologizes. Please rest assured that she does read and appreciate your messages, even if she never responds to them.

As proof that she does read her email, despite her failure to reply, she offers you this informative message:

Love the recent posts. Keep up the good work. I do hope that you'll give a shout-out today to Justice John Paul Stevens, who celebrates his 85th birthday today. I feel that he was slighted in your super-hotties of the federal judiciary contest, especially given his astounding collection of super trendy bow ties, but I'm sure that a shout-out from A3G to the most mature member of the current Court would more than make up for it.

Most excellent! A3G sends Justice Stevens the warmest birthday wishes that Judicial Birthday Watch can muster. She notes for the record that JPS shares a birthday with the luscious Carmen Electra.***

(An aside: How will JPS's birthday be celebrated at One First Street? A3G envisions Justice O'Connor, clad in cowboy jeans and boots, marching around the justices' conference table and rapping, "Hey J.P., it's your birthday! We gon' party like it's yo birthday! We gon' sip Bacardi like it's your birthday!")

Now that we've raised the subjects of (1) Supreme Court clerks and (2) Justice Stevens, there could be no better time to announce JPS's clerks for the October Term 2005! Please give a big round of applause to these four outstanding young lawyers:

1. Jean Galbraith (Boalt '04/Tatel Tot)

Tidbits:

(a) she was editor-in-chief of the California Law Review during 2003-04;
(b) she was one half of a team who played Justice Souter in Professor Jesse Choper's Supreme Court Seminar, a class in which students (in the roles of the justices) discuss actual cases before the Supreme Court, and then, as part of the class, draft "opinions" representing the views of their justices;
(c) she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa for two years after college (UTR's tipster: "Gambia?");
(d) she is a descendant of renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith ("granddaughter or great-granddaughter?"); and
(e) she was a 2003 summer associate at Altshuler Berzon, the super-elite, super-left-wing San Francisco law firm (and yes, the former home of that Berzon, a.k.a. She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, whose husband, Stephen P. Berzon, remains at the firm).

2. Daniel Lenerz (Stanford '02/M. Thompson (M.D. Ala.) '02-'03/S. Williams '03-'04)

Tidbits:

(a) he's currently working in the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego;
(b) he is a Sagittarius;
(b) he is "an exceptional breakfast cook";
(c) his hobbies include reading, lifting, running, drinking, watching movies, sleeping, and baking; and
(d) his taste in music (e.g., Wilco, Modest Mouse) is better than his taste in movies (e.g., overrated films like Lost in Translation and The Graduate).

3. Sarah Eddy McCallum (Oxford/Georgetown '02/Rakoff '02-'03/Walker '03-'04 (2d Cir.))

Tidbits:

(a) she did her law degree at Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, then continued her studies at Georgetown;
(b) she was "a closet thespian who toured in exotic places such as
Japan and, erm, Bosnia";
(c) she is "a former competitive downhill ski racer";
(d) since the end of her clerkship for Judge Walker, she has been at corporate law powerhouse Wachtell Lipton, in New York; and
(e) her husband, theater director Davis McCallum, is a fellow Rhodes Scholar, and her father-in-law is Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum, Jr..

4. Sam Spital (Harvard '04/Edwards)

Tidbits:

(a) he was voted most likely to be a Supreme Court justice by the Harvard Law School graduating class;
(b) at HLS, he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review;
(c) he was also "the right-hand man to Harvard legends Larry Tribe and Lani Guinier" (perhaps Sam helped Professor Tribe out with legal research -- but hopefully not too much);
(d) Sam's hobbies and interests include travel, civil rights, art, public space, and football;
(e) rumor has it that "he doesn't eat any food beginning with 'P'";
(f) he is "an emerging expert on voting rights law," and "destined to be one of the great civil rights leaders of our generation"; but
(g) he can be "a bit of a heartbreaker."

If you question the "heartbreaker" comment, just look at Sam's picture. Those bedroom eyes put Constantine Maroulis's to shame! But Sam's eyes are also marked by a somewhat somnolent quality, reminiscent of the dearly departed Lindsey Cardinale...

Congratulations to Jean Galbraith, Dan Lenerz, Sarah McCallum, and Sam Spital. A3G wishes them a wonderful clerkship year with Justice Stevens!

* Hat tip: How Appealing, of course. For more detail, check out the Judicial Council's decision (pdf). The opinion mentions a complaint against Judge Calabresi that A3G was not previously aware of: a charge that "on May 23, 2004, the Judge's wife attended a protest against the President and the war in Iraq, [where] she said that 'she was protesting on behalf of herself and her husband' (identifying him by title, court and name)."

** Hat tip: this post at the promising new PrawfsBlawg blog, where "[a] group of young legal turkeys offer[] their thoughts on law and the things that really matter in life."

*** Who is Carmen Electra's favorite Supreme Court justice? If A3G had to guess, she'd offer this -- perhaps surprising -- response: Justice Scalia! Ms. Electra has been quoted as follows:

I'm more attracted to a stronger man rather than a feminine man. Someone who would just throw me down and take control. I love feeling helpless. I definitely like a man who is aggressive and confident.

"[A]ggressive and confident"? Justice Scalia, if the robe fits, wear it! If you want to see aggression at its finest, read his brilliant, scorching dissent in Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), which is one of A3G's all-time favorite opinions.

Comments

[Helen deLaurentis]

Tell Justice Stevens for me that I eagerly await the day when his home is taken for the city's newest strip mall.

Helen deLaurentis