Todd C Peppers

October 25, 2018 | National Law Journal

"I cannot imagine a scenario in which any self-respecting judge would allow an incoming law clerk to undergo top secret training."

By Todd C. Peppers

6 minute read

September 30, 2015 | Supreme Court Brief

As judicial scholars, we were pleased to see that the individual justices of the U.S. Supreme Court did not escape notice during the Pope's historic speech before Congress.

By Todd C. Peppers and Micheal W. Giles

5 minute read

September 30, 2015 | Supreme Court Brief

As judicial scholars, we were pleased to see that the individual justices of the U.S. Supreme Court did not escape notice during the Pope's historic speech before Congress.

By Todd C. Peppers and Micheal W. Giles

5 minute read

September 09, 2015 | Supreme Court Brief

In explaining how the justices prepare for their annual "long conference," The New York Times recently wrote that the justices rely on "cert pool" memos written by their newly appointed law clerks to get up to speed on the individual appeals. All the justices, that is, except Justice Alito.

By Todd C. Peppers

5 minute read

September 09, 2015 | Supreme Court Brief

In explaining how the justices prepare for their annual "long conference," recently wrote that the justices rely on "cert pool" memos written by their newly appointed law clerks to get up to speed on the individual appeals. All the justices, that is, except Justice Alito.

By Todd C. Peppers

5 minute read

October 11, 2010 | National Law Journal

Until the causal links between law clerk ideology and judicial decision-making are more precisely understood, it would be premature to focus on new ways to screen and vet law clerks, argue Todd Peppers and Christopher Zorn.

By Todd C. Peppers and Christopher Zorn

5 minute read

August 20, 2012 | National Law Journal

It would be an ethical violation for a law clerk to divulge court secrets to the press, even at the behest of a justice.

By Todd C. Peppers

5 minute read

July 20, 2011 | National Law Journal

Supreme Court justices have not adopted a binding canon of ethics for themselves, but they might find guidance in the ethical code that binds the "junior justices," namely, the law clerks who assist the justices in processing the work of the Court, writes law professor Todd Peppers.

By Todd C. Peppers

5 minute read

August 20, 2012 | New Jersey Law Journal

A news report about the justices' deliberations on the health-care case raises the issue of whether the court will revisit the issue of imposing a code of conduct, including a duty of confidentiality, on the justices.

By Todd C. Peppers

4 minute read

August 10, 2009 | National Law Journal

A formal code of conduct forbids law clerks from discussing their job duties, a code that some justices have interpreted to extend beyond the clerkship itself. Yet on those few rare occasions when the justices discuss their staffs, they vigorously (if not dismissively) deny that their clerks wield any influence over the decision-making process. Thus we are left with a mystery: If clerks do not exercise undue influence, then why all the fuss and secrecy over their job duties? Such unnecessary concealment only erodes the public's confidence in its government institutions.

By Todd C. Peppers and Artemus Ward

5 minute read