Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg and "just one of the clerks" William Hodes

Clerking for Ginsberg

A good many law school professors have been U.S. Supreme Court law clerks, but never before has a Supreme Court law clerk been a tenured law professor. IUPUI Law Professor William Hodes set a new legal precedent and was a little "out of order" when he clerked.

Usually law clerks are recent law graduates. Not so Hodes. He got his law degree in 1969. One of his teachers was Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who became an associate justice on the Supreme Court in 1993. That gave Hodes the idea of being a clerk, albeit a little late. Ginsberg liked the idea.

Thus Hodes took a sabbatical from teaching. He recently completed 11 months as Ginsberg's clerk.

"His experience tracking cases, writing briefs, working on emergency appeals in capital cases and a bird's-eye view of the Supreme Court will undoubtedly provide rich new material for discussion in Bill's classes," said IUPUI Chancellor Gerald Bepko, himself a law professor and former dean of the school.

Supreme Court sabbatical for IUPUI's Hodes 'out of order.'

Hodes won't be able to relate the confidential, inside information he got as a clerk, but he can pass on first-hand understanding of how our judicial system works on a day-to-day basis. And he can convey the great amount of time and effort justices take in making their decisions. Most people think only about the cases and not about the background work that goes into the decisions, he said. He admitted that being a clerk was much harder than he expected. "There were high stakes involved, and there was the constant pressure of deadlines. It was difficult, unfamiliar stuff that had to be done -- and done right -- in a tight time frame."

Hodes worked with 36 other clerks and took some ribbing about being a professor. But mostly he was "just one of the clerks," he said. "We were all in it together."

Between 6,000 and 7,000 cases are appealed to the court each year. Much of the clerks' work involves screening these. Only about 2 percent of cases are heard by the justices. Clerks also work on the cases which are accepted for review and help the justices in writing opinions.

"Since I teach constitutional law, having seen how the Supreme Court works on the inside gives me a better sense of how cases got there," he said.

Hodes will give "a clerk's-eye view" of the decision-making process at the Supreme Court Thursday (Nov. 20) at the School of Law-Indianapolis, Room 116, at 7:45 p.m. The school is located at 735 W. New York St. A reception will precede the presentation at 7 p.m. in the law school's Daily Lounge.

Return to Table of Contents