Notre Dame Is a Pipeline for Supreme Court Clerks, Magnet for Justices

Dressed in a navy Notre Dame windbreaker and clutching a green game-day cup on a recent Saturday, law student Abraham Arun spotted his professor in the school’s sun-filled atrium. Before they could talk football, Arun had news to share. He’d landed a coveted spot as a law clerk for a federal judge in his hometown, making him part of a robust pipeline of Notre Dame students to prestigious clerkship positions — including at the Supreme Court. The court’s conservative justices are increasingly hiring the law school’s graduates and faculty to work in their chambers. Two recent graduates are among the four clerks working this term with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Notre Dame graduate and longtime law professor. A third graduate is slated to clerk for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. next year.