CURRENT ISSUE

Justice John Paul Stevens

In Volume 41, Issue 1, Connecticut Law Review published an article about Justice Stevens:

"Justice John Paul Stevens, now starting his thirty-third full term on the Supreme Court, served as law clerk to Justice Wiley B. Rutledge during the Court’s  1947  Term.    That  experience  has  informed  both  elements  of  Stevens’s  jurisprudence  and  aspects  of  his  approach  to  his  institutional role.    Like  Rutledge,  Stevens  has  written  powerful  opinions  on  issues  of individual  rights,  the  Establishment  Clause,  and  the  reach  of  executive power in wartime.  Stevens has also, like Rutledge, been a frequent author of dissents and concurrences, choosing to express his divergences from the majority rather than to vote in silence.  Within his chambers, Stevens has in  many  ways  adopted  his own  clerkship  experience  in  preference  to current  models.    Unlike  the  practices  of  most  of  his  colleagues,  Stevens hires  fewer  clerks,  writes  his  own  first  drafts,  and  shares  certiorari decisionmaking  with  his  clerks.    The  links  between  Stevens  and  Rutledge suggest  that  a  Supreme  Court  clerkship  of  a  single  year  may  be  a significant influence when a clerk becomes, a generation later, a Supreme Court Justice." 

Click here to read the full article.