Free Supreme Ambitions by David Lat Page A

assorted topics of importance—immigration law, habeas corpus law, and the ever-important subject of jurisdiction.
    The most interesting item in the packet was the law clerk “facebook,” a compilation of capsule bios of all the other law clerks, including education and employment histories, career plans, and hobbies. As we waited for the orientation to start, I flipped through it, looking for the clerks with the most high-powered backgrounds—the clerks most likely to be interested in clerking for the Supreme Court. I was dazzled by many of them: a winner of the Purple Heart, a master scuba instructor, a certified sommelier, a reader of ancient Greek poetry, a former Olympic diver. Who were these people? I felt like an impostor among them.
    I turned to the bios for the clerks to Judge M. Frank Polanski, the biggest feeder judge on the court. Three men, one woman. Their bios contained sly jokes about how hard the notoriously demanding Judge Polanski was making them work. Under “Future Plans,” one of them listed “sleeping for a very long time.” Under “Travel,” another wrote “to and from chambers,” while a third wrote “yes please, preferably somewhere without a fax machine.”
    The woman clerking for Judge Polanski looked familiar. I stared at her picture, then realized where I recognized her from: she was the unfriendly brunette whom I spotted in Judge Stinson’s waiting room back when I interviewed for my clerkship. As I had guessed from her frumpy attire, she had gone to Harvard Law School:
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    Lucia Aroldi
    Law Clerk to Judge M. Frank Polanski
    Place of Birth: Topeka, KS
    Date of Birth: April 15, 1986
    Hometown: Lawrence, KS
    College/Degree/Year: Princeton, AB, 2007
    Law School/Degree/Year: Harvard, JD, 2012
    Other Post Grad/Year: Cambridge, M. Phil., 2009 (Marshall Scholar)
    Prior Employment: Summer Associate, Sullivan & Cromwell.
    Hobbies/Interests: Hobbies? What hobbies?
    Future Plans: World conquest.
    Travel: Extensive.
    Stories/Items of Interest: First woman to win the Fay Diploma in ten years.
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    That bio had “future Supreme Court clerk” written all over it. Noting that she won the Fay Diploma, the prize for graduating from Harvard Law with the highest GPA, was gauche. But someone in Lucia’s position didn’t have to worry about social niceties.
    Of course I flipped over to my own bio to review it against the others (and to check out my photo, which thankfully was fine):
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    Audrey Coyne
    Law Clerk to Judge Christina Wong Stinson
    Place of Birth: Far Rockaway, NY
    Date of Birth: June 19, 1988
    Hometown: Woodside, NY
    College/Degree/Year: Harvard, AB, 2009
    Law School/Degree/Year: Yale, JD, 2012
    Other Post Grad/Year: None listed.
    Prior Employment: Summer Associate, Cravath Swaine & Moore.
    Hobbies/Interests: Running, movies, reading (mostly fiction).
    Future Plans: Practicing law to the best of my ability.
    Travel: Canada, Mexico, Philippines, United Kingdom, United States.
    Stories/Items of Interest: None listed.
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    Looking at my bio, I felt poor, boring, and small. There was nothing tony about my towns; Far Rockaway and Woodside were both solidly working-class. I had no other postgraduate education; many of the other clerks, like Lucia, had master’s or even PhD degrees. My travel paled in comparison to that of many of the other clerks, who had lived and worked all over the world. Sure, there were some nice names on my résumé, like Harvard, Yale, and Cravath, but those institutions cranked out thousands of people each year. Amit at least had the distinction of being the National Spelling Bee champion. There was nothing in my bio that felt similarly special.
    Needing to feel better about myself, I turned to Loyola Larry’s entry:
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    Larry Krasner
    Law Clerk to Judge Christina Wong Stinson
    Place of Birth: Los Angeles, CA
    Date of Birth: September 26, 1985
    Hometown: Beverly Hills,