Paul Clement has had one of the most storied careers in the law.How would most Liberals react if these large firm did the same thing 50 years ago if it were about civil rights?
One top legal recruiter said that when Clement was graduating from Harvard Law, all the firms were practically salivating to get him: “Paul Clement is the Holy Grail of law firm recruiting... The buzz in the legal world about Clement is like the buzz in basketball when LeBron James was coming out of high school and turning pro. It will be interesting to see where the market will go.”
He’s only 47 but has been touted as a Supreme Court pick for years. According to Scotusblog he has argued an astonishing 69 cases before the Supreme Court, only 10 cases shy of the record for any lawyer now practicing. So prolific is he before the Court, in 2012 he argued only one less case than the US Solicitor General.
In 2011 he was a partner at the firm of King and Spalding, and on behalf of his firm he accepted the assignment to represent the US House of Representatives in defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which made man-woman marriage the only kind of marriage recognized by the Federal Government. The law should have been defended by the US Department of Justice, but Eric Holder refused.
His partners decided they would not allow him to carry on with the case, an usual move that caused a great deal of controversy at the time. Clement had to resign in order to represent the controversial case, which he did. His firm let him go, perhaps the best lawyer of his generation, rather than upset the LGBT establishment.
Most firms have wised up since then – now they don’t even talk to those who want to hire them to defend traditional marriage in the courts.
Or Today if it were about immigration right?
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