Law Clerks Can’t Seek Political Jobs While Working for Courts

Judges should prevent their law clerks from seeking jobs with political groups while they’re still working in chambers, according to revised ethics guidance from the federal judiciary.

In updates to ethics opinions released on Thursday, the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct said that “expressing interest in a post-clerkship position with a political organization may run the risk of associating the judicial chambers with political activity.”

One updated opinion said that keeping a law clerk away from a case involving a future political employer “does not adequately address that risk.”

“If approached by a political organization about post-clerkship employment, ...