When I applied to clerk for Justice Thomas I was just finishing my appellate clerkship on the DC Circuit with Judge Sentelle. I was thrilled to get an interview, but nervous about broaching the fact that I was three months pregnant. /1 #CTLive
Would he not want to hire someone who was getting ready to have a baby? After getting advice from people who knew him I decided to just tell him in my interview (I wasn’t showing yet). His response was so illustrative of his character. /2 #CTLive
He told me that one of the perks of being a Supreme Court justice is that he could hire anyone he wanted for whatever year he wanted. /3 #CTLive
He said the whole purpose of the Court and the Constitution was to create a country that allowed its citizens to go about raising their families in peace and so it would be backwards for him to ask me to do anything for him that wasn’t also best fit for my family. /4 #CTLive
He told me to go home and talk to my family and friends and decide which year would be best to clerk for my situation. I opted to wait a year after I normally would have started so that my daughter was 18 months to 2.5 years during my clerkship instead of an infant. /5 #CTLive
Ironically, because of offering me that deferral, Justice Thomas ended up with four male clerks the term I otherwise would have started. He was criticized for not having any women. Meanwhile he was doing the most pro-woman thing I could imagine. /6 #CTLive
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