Feeder judges

Law.com has Katsas, Sutton Top List of Judges Who Feed Most Law Clerks to Supreme Court -- A new crop of feeder judges has emerged based on their experience, reputation and connection to the justices.

At the top was Judge Gregory Katsas, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, who has sent at least 18 of his law clerks to the high court since the October 2019 term. Katsas, a former Jones Day partner and deputy White House counsel, was named to the bench in 2017 by Trump and was himself a clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas during the 1991-1992 term.

Other Trump-appointed judges who made the list were Amul Thapar of the Sixth Circuit (at least 16 clerks), Britt Grant of the Eleventh Circuit (at least 9 clerks) and Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (at least 10 clerks).

Prominent feeder judges over the past 20 years have included Fourth Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain.

Other judges who had at least five of their clerks go on to the high court include Ninth Circuit Judge William Fletcher (6 clerks); Third Circuit Judges Stephanos Bibas and Thomas Hardiman (both 5); Second Circuit Judges Raymond Lohier (6) and Guido Calabresi (6); D.C. Circuit Judges Neomi Rao (5) and Cornelia Pillard (5); Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Sykes (6); and U.S. District Judges for the Southern District of New York Jed Rakoff and Jesse Furman (both 5).