Neil Gorsuch testifies at his confirmation hearing in March. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ NLJ

As 2017 draws to a close, we're looking back at some of the most popular stories about the U.S. Supreme Court. What follows are highlights from many of our best-read Supreme Court stories of 2017. Thanks as always for reading. Happy holidays! —Tony and Marcia

Shut Out: SCOTUS Law Clerks Still Mostly White and Male Amid the luster of being a law clerk, there's an uncomfortable reality: It is an elite club still dominated by white men. While some variables are outside the court's control, few justices seem to be going out of their way to help boost diversity. [Read more]

Why Are There So Few Women SCOTUS Advocates? “In my view a lot of the problem results from the fact that litigation requires a war-like mentality. … Male lawyers generally are more fearless in this type of verbal battle, even though from my experience many of those men are obviously clueless that they have no talent,” one top female appellate lawyer said. [Read more]

Justice Department, Divided Internally, Backed Colorado Baker Over Gay Couple U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions overruled a recommendation that the Justice Department stay on the sidelines for one of the court's most closely watched cases of the term. [Read more]

Trump's Supreme Court Wish List Grows By Five Judges Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit, left off earlier wish lists, finally made the cut. [Read more]

Bananas for Breakfast … And More Advice for SCOTUS Advocates “A lot of bananas like two, three, sometimes four,” Elizabeth Prelogar says. “It's the only thing I can stomach with all the anxiety, but it gives me hopefully a good grounding for the argument.” [Read more]

DC Circuit's Millett, Who Backed Teen's Abortion Right, Finds Role Model in RBG “I've told Justice Ginsburg if there had been no 'her,' there probably would have been no 'me.' She has been my role model. When I came on the D.C. Circuit, they have closets where you keep your robes and they keep the plaques of all the judges who preceded you. I begged and pleaded to get her closet because it meant so much to me.” [Read more]

Michael Dreeben /// Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL

Mueller Enlists Top Criminal Law Expert for Russia Probe Michael Dreeben of the U.S. solicitor general's office is widely recognized as one of the top criminal-law appellate lawyers in the country. [Read more]

Kagan Says Repeat Players at SCOTUS 'Know What It Is We Like' The justice says many of the arguments are made by “repeat players” who “really know the court, who know the process of arguing before the court, who know what it is we like, who know what they should be doing, what they shouldn't be doing.” [Read more]

'Not My Finest Moment,' Gorsuch Says About Gitmo Letter The apology, about an email Neil Gorsuch wrote while at the U.S. Justice Department, came up during his confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate. [Read more]

Why Did Neal Katyal Go an Extra Mile for Neil Gorsuch? The Hogan Lovells partner's prominent role in support of a nominee who could be voted down by many if not most Democrats in the Senate raised questions and drew both praise and criticism. [Read more]

Lawyers in Gorsuch's Frozen Trucker Case Surprised at Attention Critics of Neil Gorsuch used this ruling—the employee lost this labor dispute in the Tenth Circuit—to argue against his confirmation to the Supreme Court. [Read more]

Justice Department Faces Questions for Supreme Court Attack on ACLU Ethics The U.S. Justice Department's request that the Supreme Court consider sanctions against lawyers who advocated for an immigrant teenager at the center of an abortion case has raised questions about the government's motivation and threatened to jeopardize the reputation of the solicitor general's office before the justices. [Read more]

Dear Supreme Court: When a Lawyer Confesses Error In the blizzard of questions and hypotheticals marking some arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court, a lawyer can misunderstand a justice and misspeak, usually self-correcting almost immediately. But sometimes, the sinking realization strikes later. Just ask National Labor Relations Board general counsel Richard Griffin Jr. [Read more]

California Judge William Alsup Writes SCOTUS to Correct Trump's DOJ Well, this doesn't happen often. The California judge, in a submission to the high court, defended a discovery ruling in a dispute over the Trump administration's rollback of an immigration program for young people. The justices later overturned the scope of Alsup's decision. [Read more]

Gorsuch Dishes on Civility, Firing Clients, Discovery Karma, and Hot Tubs In his most candid public appearance since joining the U.S. Supreme Court in April, Justice Neil Gorsuch in October urged the legal profession to step up its game when it comes to ethics and civility, urging rule changes that would set a higher standard for lawyers. [Read more]

Human Rights Campaign held a press conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court in October before delivering an amicus brief supporting gay couples in “Masterpiece Cakeshop.” Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi

'How Do You Draw a Line'? Key Moments From the Supreme Court's Wedding Cake Case If a baker's religious beliefs lead him to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, what about the florist who feels the same and refuses to create a wedding arrangement? Or the makeup artist? The jeweler? The invitation designer? [Read more]

This SCOTUS Brief Is Good Enough to Eat. But Will Justices Bite? Filed by Baker Botts partner Evan Young, this Masterpiece Cake amicus brief featured roughly three dozen photos of wedding and other special-occasion cakes, ranging from one that looks like a silver pot brimming with crawfish waiting to be boiled, to a “Pistol Pete” cake for a couple who first met at Oklahoma State University. [Read more]

Kate Adams, Apple's Incoming General Counsel, Was 'Peacemaker' as SCOTUS Clerk “Kate was among other things, the peacemaker—she moderated clashes among Justice O'Connor's clerks, and often served as emissary to other chambers,” recalled Mark Perry, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and fellow O'Connor clerk with Adams in the 1993-94 term. “Kate was—and is—thoughtful, respectful, careful, and mature. As a result, she could find a path forward when others were at odds.” [Read more]

53 Companies Back Transgender Teen in SCOTUS Fight Major technology companies and other businesses went to the Supreme Court in an amicus brief to warn the justices of the consequences of a ruling against a transgender boy's sex discrimination claim. [Read more]

Most Memorable Footnote? Here's What a Few Lawyers Told Us We asked a few veteran U.S. Supreme Court and appellate lawyers to share the footnotes that, for them, have stood the test of time. [Read more]