22 former Thomas clerks have jobs thanks to Trump
WASHINGTON » While the spotlight is on the two former clerks to Justice Anthony Kennedy whom President Donald Trump has nominated to the Supreme Court, the influence of the court’s most conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, is felt more widely throughout the Trump administration.
Twenty-two Thomas clerks, roughly 20 percent of the people who have snagged coveted jobs in his Supreme Court office since 1991, either hold political appointments in the Trump administration or have been nominated to judgeships by Trump.
They include four federal appellate judges, the top federal prosecutor in Kansas, high-ranking officials in the Justice and Transportation departments, an associate White House counsel and the head of the White House office that is leading the effort to roll back federal regulations.
It is not uncommon for former high court clerks, the elite of the legal world, to hold prominent jobs in any administration or to be judges, including on the Supreme Court. Four justices once worked at the court as clerks, and if confirmed, Judge Brett Kavanaugh would make a fifth. He and Justice Neil Gorsuch worked for Kennedy at the same time in 1993 and 1994.
Among the conservative justices, Samuel Alito and the late Antonin Scalia each have about a dozen clerks who hold administration jobs or were nominated to judgeships by Trump.
But the sheer number of Thomas clerks in the administration does appear to be unusual. The 70-year-old justice’s opinions in favor of gun rights and in other areas generally align with Trump’s views and administration policies.
Thomas’ outlook on the law is just one factor in the proliferation of his former law clerks with ties to the administration, said Stephen McAllister, the Trump-nominated U.S. attorney in Kansas.
“Part of it is just his own model. He spent almost his entire legal career in government service, state or federal. He values that,” McAllister said.
More than most of his colleagues, Thomas tends to focus on hires who share his legal views, said Pamela Karlan, a Stanford Law School professor who served in the Obama Justice Department.