Two of Justice Samuel Alito Jr.'s former law clerks stopped in at his chambers earlier this month to congratulate him on winning confirmation.
Alito was so happy to see them, apparently, that he offered them jobs on the spot. He asked Hannah Smith, a Williams & Connolly associate, and Jay Jorgensen, a partner at Sidley Austin, to serve as his law clerks this term. Both, after clerking for Alito, had subsequent high court experience -- Jorgensen clerked for the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Smith for Justice Clarence Thomas -- and that was exactly what Alito needed.
Alito's other, more headline-making law clerk hire, Adam Ciongoli, does not have Supreme Court experience. But he is a trusted, high-energy former Alito clerk who could help Alito make his way through official Washington. Out of the blue, Ciongoli got the call, and he too returned to the marble palace on short notice, abandoning a high-flying, to-die-for job as vice president and general counsel of Time Warner Europe.
And there's just a slight pay cut. Ciongoli will earn $63,335 as a law clerk.