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How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:31 pm
by Anonymous User
I've heard that sometimes clerks will need to get secret or even top secret level security clearances in order to work on sensitive cases. Is this at all common for district courts? My record is by no means bad, but I do have some stuff that might make getting a clearance a pain in the ass and so I'd really rather not deal with that even if I'd ultimately get the clearance. I also just hate hyper-intrusive stuff like that on principle. Is having to get a clearance something I realistically need to worry about? FWIW, I am not clerking in EDVA, SDNY/EDNY, or DDC or any court with a big national security docket.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:50 pm
by Anonymous User
It's probably not something you have to worry about. During my EDNY clerkship, two of the three clerks applied for security clearance. The one who didn't apply simply said she didn't feel like it and there was no adverse consequence. Of the two that applied, one was approved for the clearance during the clerkship and the other one's application was "pending" for the whole year and so he basically never heard back. (It could be that the application was later granted or denied, but by that time the clerkship would have been over and so the clerk had no incentive to follow up.) There was exactly one case that required the security clearance during the clerkship year (a child porn case) and so the one clerk who got the clearance worked on that one.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:51 pm
by Anonymous User
I think it’s pretty unlikely if you’re not clerking anywhere with a big national security docket. The flyover district court I was in had one terrorism case pop up, but that was the first in many years. Also, don’t quote me on this, but I think that a career clerk is usually the one to get the clearance. So if chambers is set up that way, I don’t think you would necessarily work on the case and get the clearance.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:33 pm
by Anonymous User
From what I’ve seen/heard when cases like this come up it’s common that the judge will effectively do everything themselves because it takes so long for clerks to get clearance (my understanding is that a year isn’t unusual for a TS). They’re rare and very few clerks need one.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 5:34 pm
by Anonymous User
I think it’s uncommon. My judge had such a case while I was there, but had a career clerk and they just had the career clerk get the clearance because it was clear the case would extend past my term, and so there was no point in making me go through the process. The clerk and chambers staff also all had to get a clearance for this case, so it clearly didn’t come up regularly (they didn’t already have the clearance).
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 7:25 pm
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:50 pm
It's probably not something you have to worry about. During my EDNY clerkship, two of the three clerks applied for security clearance. The one who didn't apply simply said she didn't feel like it and there was no adverse consequence. Of the two that applied, one was approved for the clearance during the clerkship and the other one's application was "pending" for the whole year and so he basically never heard back. (It could be that the application was later granted or denied, but by that time the clerkship would have been over and so the clerk had no incentive to follow up.) There was exactly one case that required the security clearance during the clerkship year (a child porn case) and so the one clerk who got the clearance worked on that one.
A CSAM case involved classified materials??? Sounds like Schulte, but that was SDNY.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 8:08 pm
by Anonymous User
My SDNY district judge told me after hiring me that the offer was contingent on getting a security clearance.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:15 pm
by Anonymous User
In DDC my judge had a whole separate set of pooled clerks for FISA stuff.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2024 12:05 pm
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 8:08 pm
My SDNY district judge told me after hiring me that the offer was contingent on getting a security clearance.
I know at least one D.C. Circuit judge also does so, and clerks have lost the job for being unable to get one.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2024 11:27 pm
by Anonymous User
If you're not in one of DDC/EDVA/SDNY/EDNY my impression is that it is exceedingly unlikely you will need one.
Re: How common is it for clerks to need a security clearance?
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 6:28 am
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 11:27 pm
If you're not in one of DDC/EDVA/SDNY/EDNY my impression is that it is exceedingly unlikely you will need one.
The Court of Federal Claims and to a lesser extent Federal Circuit might require clearances.