U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

The community of those who've served U.S. Supreme Court clerkships, and the “feeder” judges effectively helping fill those ranks, is a world unto itself, and is one with very defined, but also very limited, ties to New Jersey.

That's one takeaway from a recent series of reports by sibling publication The National Law Journal, which examined clerk demographics during the Roberts court, from 2005 up to this year.

The research turned up just one former U.S. Supreme Court clerk practicing in New Jersey: Adam Ciongoli, who became general counsel of Camden-based Campbell Soup Co. in mid-2015. Ciongoli twice clerked for Samuel Alito—first, when Alito was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and then in 2005, after Alito had been elevated to the high court and after Ciongoli had practiced privately and in government roles.

The population of former clerks is higher in neighboring markets: NLJ located 54 former Supreme Court clerks practicing in New York, and five practicing in Pennsylvania.

As for feeding Supreme Court clerkship ranks, New Jersey's law schools account for two such clerks during the Roberts court, NLJ found. By comparison, Columbia Law School alone accounted for 24 graduates clerking for the court from 2005 to 2017, ranking sixth; University of Pennsylvania ranks No. 15, accounting for six graduate-clerks during that timeframe. Harvard and Yale law schools lead all others by degrees, with 124 and 119 graduate-clerks, respectively, according to the research.

Seton Hall University School of Law's lone graduate-clerk from 2005 to 2017 is Lucas Townsend, who clerked for Alito during the 2009 term, after clerking for Third Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. He currently is a litigation partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Washington, D.C., office, handling appellate, constitutional and intellectual property law.

From Rutgers Law School—Camden came Claire Evans, a Westmont native who during the 2008 term clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, whom NLJ credits with casting the widest net when it comes to taking on clerks. Evans—who had previously clerked for U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle in Camden, in 2002-04, as well as for Judge David Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit—is now a litigation partner and chair of the appellate practice at Wiley Rein's Washington, D.C., office.

In an interview with NLJ, Evans offered the following advice for those looking to land a coveted high court clerkship: “To the extent that you're applying from a school that does not traditionally send folks to the court, it's important to stand out academically. There's no substitute for a good GPA.”

Perhaps Alito himself gives the Supreme Court its strongest New Jersey connection. Trenton-born, a graduate of Princeton University, and former U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alito was appointed to the Third Circuit bench in 1990. Following his elevation to the Supreme Court, Alito would come to hire nine of his former Third Circuit clerks to Supreme Court clerkships, according to the research.

The Third Circuit in its entirety is middle-of-the pack when it comes to feeding high court clerkships. Of the nearly 500 Supreme Court clerks during that timeframe, 18 had prior Third Circuit clerkships, placing that circuit seventh among 12. (That means half of those 18 were Alito's Third Circuit clerks whom he rehired).

Other Third Circuit judges sending clerks to the Roberts court are: Anthony Scirica (four); Michael Chagares (two); and Edward Becker, Thomas Ambro and Maryanne Trump Barry (one each).

With four former clerks moving on to the Supreme Court, Scirica ranks 29th among feeder judges. Three of those went on the clerk for Alito; the other, for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Among NLJ's broader findings is the fact that Supreme Court clerks have been disproportionately male and white in comparison to law school graduate and law firm associate demographics.