At the start of his legal career, NYU President Emeritus John Sexton achieved an extraordinary clerkship trifecta.  Initially, in 1979, he clerked for Judge Harold Leventhal on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  Tragically, Judge Leventhal died several months after Sexton began working for him.  He then clerked for Judge David Bazelon, also on the D.C. Circuit.  As Sexton explains, both judges were towering figures on the court of appeals.  Sexton then clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger, something no other Bazelon clerk ever did.  (Sexton wrote about his clerkship with the Chief Justice for the Journal of Supreme Court History in 2018; see “Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the Court, and the Nation, 43 J. Sup. Ct. Hist. 173 (2018).)  

In his discussion with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Sexton talks about each judge and some of the interesting cases and issues that came up while he was clerking.  He concludes with thoughts on what has changed – and what has endured – in the judiciary since he was a law clerk more than forty years ago.  

      

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is President Emeritus of NYU, Dr. John Sexton.

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