From left to right: Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. From left to right: Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The path to a U.S. Supreme Court clerkship runs disproportionately through the chambers of certain circuit judges, many of whom sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and almost all of whom are white men.

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SCOTUS Clerks
This article is part of a series examining the professional pathways and diversity of Supreme Court law clerks.

The interactive graphic below, drawn from the National Law Journal's study of law clerks from 2005 to 2017, maps feeder judges who have had three or more former law clerks go on to work for a current justice.

➤➤ SCOTUS Clerks: Who Gets the Golden Ticket? Join reporter Tony Mauro and Hogan Lovells partner Neal Katyal on Thursday, Dec. 14 for a conference call about clerk hiring and diversity. Click here for more details.

We also used data from the past five years to identify the up-and-coming appeals court judges appointed by the most recent former presidents—George W. Bush and Barack Obama—who are sending the most clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Among our findings:

● Fifteen clerks hired by Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit  have gone on to the high court in the last five years, slightly edging out colleague Merrick Garland, who sent 14 to the justices during that time period. Kavanaugh was appointed by Bush in 2006, and Garland was a 1997 Clinton appointee. Last month, President Donald Trump added Kavanaugh to his list of potential Supreme Court nominees if a vacancy occurs.

● Other judges on Trump's wish list are also sending growing numbers of clerks to the high court: William Pryor Jr. of the 11th Circuit with seven, and Raymond Kethledge of the Sixth Circuit with five. The only Bush-appointed woman on the list is Second Circuit judge Debra Livingston, three of whose clerks have gone on to clerk at the Supreme Court. Other Bush appointees whose clerks are making their way to the Supreme Court are Thomas Griffith of the D.C. Circuit, with seven, and Sixth Circuit judge Jeffrey Sutton, with six.

● Obama appointees are low on the list in part, of course, because they are relatively new on the bench and it takes time for the justices to rely on the quality of their clerks. D.C. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan, formerly a prominent Supreme Court advocate, has sent five of his clerks to the Supreme Court. Obama appointed Srinivasan, who is of Asian descent, to the appeals court in 2013. Another 2013 D.C. Circuit appointee, Cornelia Pillard, has delivered two of her clerks to the Supreme Court so far.