Clerk Bench Memos and Influence on Oral Argument Behavior in the U.S. Supreme Court

• In Event: Lightning Talk: U.S. Institutions and American Democracy

Brief Overview

We seek to answer the impact that Supreme Court judicial law clerks influence their Justice through a specific case study of the bench memos written by Justice Harry Blackmun’s law clerks in preparation for oral argument.

Authors

• Grace Hertzog, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

• Elizabeth A. Lane, North Carolina State University