Donald Trump’s favorite judge is suddenly losing law clerks.

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.

  • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
    76·
    8 months ago

    From the article…

    “Because a clerkship typically lasts one year and is an extremely valuable credential, most clerks will ‘ride it out’ instead of quitting, even if they’re miserable or have issues with their judge,”

    • cogman@lemmy.world
      41·
      8 months ago

      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.

  • rayyy@lemmy.world
    60·
    8 months ago

    This is a huge sign that dishonest shit is going on and these clerks want nothing to do with it. INVESTIGATE, but be aware that Republicans are extremely accomplished at hiding their crimes.

    • cogman@lemmy.world
      281·
      8 months ago

      Only way to remove her is impeachment. That will never fly as Republican fascists only care about the power she gives and not the Constitution or law.

      • frezik@midwest.social
        91·
        8 months ago

        If Democrats had any spine, they’d at least expand the size of the federal bench (at least double, maybe even double again) and dilute her influence. Federal judges have too big of a caseload already, and the size hasn’t expanded with the population for a while, so there are good non-political reasons for doing this.

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
    561·
    8 months ago

    Gosh, I don’t know, maybe people realize how disastrous it’ll be to be associated with her.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    501·
    8 months ago

    I hope somebody has an investigator crawling up her ass the way they did Fani Willis.

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
    181·
    8 months ago

    Clerking for a federal judge is a very prestigious job for a law school graduate. They only quit if they get a better offer or are uncomfortable with being associated with the judge’s incompetence.

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
    17·
    8 months ago

    shes a conservative puppet. she doesnt care about law, why would she care about the loss of these clerks? she can potentially use this to slow down her already glacier-like blowjob of donalds case

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
    115·
    8 months ago

    Alright Wikipedia editors, please make so that these shit apples don’t fall far from this shit tree. These clerks knew exactly what they were doing working with her. Probably taking jobs at the Heritage Foundation now

    • frezik@midwest.social
      10·
      8 months ago

      Being a clerk for a federal judge is a plumb assignment for a young lawyer. There’s only a handful of openings. They can’t afford to be choosy about what judge they serve under, and their politics do not necessarily align at all.

      The reason this is so shocking is precisely because at least one of them bailed early for no discernible reasons. One of them decided to raise a kid, but the other one just up and left. If anything, it suggests that even the prestige of the position wasn’t enough to put up with Cannon’s bullshit.

      • Snapz@lemmy.world
        3·
        8 months ago

        That’s apologist cynical nonsense. cannon was recently appointed by trump and known to not be fit for the position from GO. Human beings have autonomy.

        “Yeah, I knew the factory ground up babies, but you don’t understand… You see I wanted the career advancement towards the top of my field so you just have to go with it”

        Wtf, bud?

        • frezik@midwest.social
          3·
          8 months ago

          Do you agree with everything your employer does? Because I sure as hell don’t. We all have to compromise to some level.

          • Snapz@lemmy.world
            22·
            8 months ago

            I wouldn’t apply if my prospective employer was the equivalent of a trump appointment unqualified, unethical “judge” - again not sure you’re getting the fact that she was a known quantity when they applied for the clerkships.

            I wouldn’t apply to that position because of my own morals, but also because of know that it would be poison to my resume - unless I was of course content to work for a series of the same broken assholes for the rest of my career (and in that scenario, I’m also a broken asshole).

            Are you just being a contrarian for the sake of it? because you don’t have an argument here.