Feeder judge

In the United States, feeder judges are prominent judges in the American federal judiciary whose law clerks are frequently selected to become law clerks for the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.

[1] Feeder judges are able to place comparatively many of their clerks on the Supreme Court for a variety of reasons, including personal or ideological relationships with particular justices, prestigious and respected positions in the judiciary, and reputations for attracting and training high-quality clerks.

This phenomenon probably began with Judge Learned Hand,[6] and had been established by the time of Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1969, although data before his tenure is unreliable.

[8] However, the feeder system has become more concentrated as more judges are feeding to specific justices than in the past.

[15] Indeed, many feeder judges cherish this status so much they modulate their own clerkship hiring based on an applicant's compatibility with the justices, and pass over promising clerks because they are doubtful of the applicant's chances of securing a Supreme Court clerkship.

Circuit, and Luttig placed three-quarters of his clerks with Scalia or Justice Clarence Thomas.