Dark Bilious Vapors

Originally, I was going to entitle this "Obscenity of the Day", but the more I think of it the more I think this one qualifies for at least a month's worth of umbrage.

Over at Brian Leiter's blog, he points out that it "pays" to be a Supreme Court clerk:

"The intense annual competition to lure elite Supreme Court law clerks to top law firms is reaching record heights this year, with some firms offering jaw-dropping hiring bonuses of $150,000 or more.

"These bonuses, added to base salaries in the third-year associate range, make it likely that some of the Court's 35 law clerks this term will be paid upward of $300,000 the first year they leave their justice's chambers. By contrast, Chief Justice William Rehnquist is paid $203,000 a year, and associate justices make $194,300."

Consider, also, that these people do not exactly work coal miner's hours. The justices of the high court listen to arguments for 12 hours a month, six months a year-the functional equivalent of three days down a coal mine. The rest of their time is devoted to deciding which meager 80 cases they'll hear all year, how they'll vote, and writing opinions-for which a good deal of the research and drafting is done by law clerks who never sleep or eat. In sum, a Supreme Court justiceship is a dream job for anyone over the age of 80 or under the age of 7.

Len on 06.24.04 @ 08:56 PM CST