U.S. Supreme Court justices typically are authorized to hire four clerks each for a one-year term. Retired Supreme Court justices can hire one clerk; the work for these justices varies, ranging from sitting on Court of Appeals cases when the justice sits as a circuit judge, to being on loan to the chambers of the justice who replaced the retired justice. Almost without exception, the justices only hire clerks who have clerked for at least one year for another judge, most frequently at the federal appellate level.
