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Advocate John Roberts v. Chief Justice John Roberts

How do you know what a lawyer really believes when he is always representing a client?

Josh Blackman | 9.1.2026 11:57 PM

One of the greatest challenges with judicial selection is knowing what a lawyer actually believes. How do you know what a lawyer really believes when he is always representing a client?

For sure, lawyers at firms are largely hired guns. They'll take whatever paying client comes through the door. Indeed, whenever a lawyer takes a case, he has plausible deniability: I zealously represented my client, without regard to whether I agreed with the cause. How, then, do you know what a lawyer really believes?

You cannot give any weight to clerkships. Those who seek to clerk on the Supreme Court can often fake their politics to get through the gates--and I'm not talking about so-called counter-clerks. Brass rings are neither red nor blue. Dana........

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