It appears that Chief Justice John Roberts took Article III Groupie's advice. As reported here (gavel bang: Howard), Chief Justice Roberts "has asked Rehnquist's staff to stay, and he has hired Rehnquist's three law clerks. In addition, he will bring two law clerks and a secretary from his previous job as an appeals court judge."
Update: As reported by Orin Kerr, the two Roberts clerks are Dan Kearney and Kosta Stojilkovic, who clerked for JGR on the D.C. Circuit in 2004-05. Congratulations, Dan and Kosta! (The third Roberts clerk from 2004-05, the adorable Jeff Pojanowski, is already at One First Street, serving as one of Justice Kennedy's clerks.)
As a result of these hires, this Term the Chief Justice will have five law clerks, for the first time in a long time (or perhaps for the first time ever). Although he was entitled to five clerks, the late Chief Justice Rehnquist hired only three per term, "so there would be an even number for doubles tennis games" (as noted here, among many other places).
On behalf of UTR's readership, A3G extends warmest congratulations to three fantastic Rehnquist-turned-Roberts clerks: Ann O'Connell, Mark Mosier, and Michael Passaportis. They must be relieved to know that they won't be getting evicted from One First Street right before all the fun -- i.e., work on the merits cases, as opposed to cert petition drudgery -- gets started.
And now the speculation shifts, to the fate of the O'Connor clerks...
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