Date: 2008-09-09
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I understand that as well. but some would wonder why we need the influence of more law graduates here. and thats misunderstanding what were attempting to do here. Right now both the judicial and the executive branches have clerkship programs which are accessible to those who are graduates of our top law schools. This is particularly pronounced in the area of judicial clerkships. It is considered quite prestigious and an honor for someone to serve a judicial clerkship. As the gentlelady from California mentioned. it was the dean of the law school of Stanford University. Larry. Kramer. who first raised this issue with me and with her. It was interesting to hear from the law school dean because his message was not what I expected. and he has been quoted here on the floor. Let me give you a more extended quote of what he said. which is: Clerking for a trial or appellate judge provides young lawyers with an invaluable insiders understanding of the judicial decisionmaking process. Not surprisingly. judicial clerkships leave young lawyers with a highly courtcentered view of the law and the legal system. and precisely because these are the top law school graduates. former law clerks go on disproportionately to assume leadership positions in the bar and in the professionand again quoting Dean Kramerexplaining in part why the legal profession in this country is heavily tilted toward the courts. Now. we can argue about whether they are tilted to the right or to the left or theyre tilted properly. but the fact of the matter is it is a courtcentered view of the law whidh I think interferes with the delicate balance established by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution. which saw there were worthy and valuable distinctions among the three branches of government. D1600 And we can bemoan the fact that this is the case. we can talk about judges on the bench and we can talk about people not taking their constitutional obligations seriously when they take their oath of office. but if we really want to get down to it. it seems to me this is one of the undue influences thats out there. And so the idea was. as Dean Kramer said. that it would be enormously beneficial for both the profession and the public if some of these young lawyers began their careers in the legislature and. as he said. developed an equal sense of the national legislature. Were not saying that is to disregard or in any way scale down their appreciation for the judicial branch. but rather to raise up their appreciation of the understanding of how this place worksand by this place. I mean the institution of the House of Representatives and the institution of the United States Senate. It would bring them an understanding of the workings of Congress that they would then bring to bear as they move on in their. careers. both within the legislature and other branches. And I dont see how that would not be beneficial to this country. healthy for the body politic. and probably end up with better legislation overall. So I would hope that Members would understand what were attempting to do here. Were attempting to establish. on an equal footing. a clerkship for top graduates of law schools around the country that they currently have an opportunity to participate in in the executive and the judicial branch. It would be beneficial to us. it seems to me. it would be beneficial to them. but more importantly. it would be beneficial to the public. And for those who are concerned that this might cut into their MRA. by the terms of the legislation. it would not in any way affect the collective or individual MRAs that Members receive at the present time. As was mentioned before. it would be done on a bipartisan basis so that we would all have the opportunity to benefit from this. And similarly. these clerks would. have the opportunity to benefit from exposure to both sides of the aisle. So I would hope that we would get a unanimous vote in favor of this. This is something that I think will improve the quality of the discussion and the quality of the work that we do around here. But more importantly. I would hope that it would have a lasting impact on the understanding within the bar itself of the proper workings and functionings of the legislative branch. and in fact the quality of work that is provided in the legislative branches: And so I thank the gentleman from Michigan for the time.