You also won’t see what you occasionally see with, e.g., HLS magna bros, where they have terrible judgment and interpersonal instincts that would make you assume they were morons were it not for their academic background.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5545890&forum_id=2Reputation#47781804)

also, what is it about the scotus clerk process that weeds those kinds of people out?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5545890&forum_id=2Reputation#47781823)

While obviously high-end, going to HLS -- and moreso if you step even one notch down, to the CLSes of the world -- is still ultimately an auto-admit if your grades and LSAT (and maybe a little bit of 'soft' shit, if we're talking HYS, that can still be gamed basically just as easily as an objective metric) are there. Like, if you're "qualified", you get accepted. That's not how jobs work; I got accepted to more prestigious firms/clerkships/gov't and rejected by less prestigious ones all the time. A lot of that is inefficiency / the private sector prioritizing stupid shit / universities obviously having more stable year-to-year "needs" (they have to fill a fixed class size, and if the economy increases or decreases the applicant-pool quality, they're just able to have a higher- or lower-LSAT class that year), but mixed in with it are genuinely individualized determinations about people's ability, judgment, etc.

EDIT: This can indeed be boiled down to "interviews and (when applicable) reputation", i.e., first- and secondhand qualitative observation, judged holistically. As an FYI, if you see an HLS magna who didn't clerk and didn't go into politics (incl. obvious pre-political setup jobs)... well, that's usually a red flag.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5545890&forum_id=2Reputation#47781962)

Edit: the no clerking thing is BS. Lots of those people want to do corp work where clerking is worthless.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5545890&forum_id=2Reputation#47781970)

to land any decent clerkship you need some recommendations and have good grades. but professors will write anyone letters. meanwhile, the feeder judge to scotus will have worked with you very closely for some time. and their reputation is on the line.

everyone who can get a feeder judge clerkship will be incredibly smart. but they might not be super hardworking or they could be incredibly aspie. those types of people don't get a real recommendation to scotus. (kind of like a cold offer, they will write a LOR but there is a wink-and-nod aspect to clerkships where if the recommender actually thinks you're a good fit they'll call chambers and lobby for you.)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5545890&forum_id=2Reputation#47781980)