Patrick Reidy did well in school, graduating salutatorian of his class at Notre Dame. Later going to Yale Law School and first interning, later clerking, for Judge Thomas Hardiman at the Third Circuit. After doing a fellowship at at Yale Law School’s Center for Private Law, he got a gig as an associate professor at Notre Dame law school. Not too shabby, right?

So why shouldn’t a Supreme Court justice pick Patrick Reidy as a clerk?

After graduation, he entered formation with the Congregation of Holy Cross — the order that founded and continues to serve at Notre Dame — and earned his Master of Divinity from Notre Dame.

Father Reidy was ordained to the priesthood in 2014, and he worked in a variety of pastoral and administrative positions before enrolling at Yale Law School in 2018.

To be fair, there are a few things out of the ordinary here. First, clerks tend to be baby lawyers coming off a circuit court clerkship, or a biglaw hiatus after a clerkship, Second, people don’t call them Father. But why not?

“Each year, the justices of the Supreme Court … hire about 40 law clerks, selecting from among the most accomplished and promising young lawyers in the country,” said Notre Dame Law School professor Rick Garnett, who clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Garnett explained that justices often hire lawyers who have previously clerked for lower-court judges.

Supreme Court clerks assist judges by reviewing trial records, researching relevant laws and judicial precedent, and workshopping draft opinions for judges.

Nabbing a Supreme Court clerkship is a huge, and often exceptionally well-compensated, feather in one’s cap. Coming off the clerkship, there’s a biglaw premium of slightly less than a gazillion bucks. There’s invariably a place in the legal academy and as a legal analyst at MSNBC. And chances of getting a bench of one’s own increase multifold. Whether most Supreme Court clerks deserve such adoration is another matter.

Whether they possess the knowledge and experience to well serve their justices is questionable. Smart is, of course, better than dumb, even if it’s not necessarily proved by success in law school. But breadth of experience distinguishes intelligence from wisdom. It’s not as if the Supreme Court couldn’t do with a bit more wisdom.

But he’s a priest? Does this mean that the dreaded Kavanaugh has forsaken secular law for canon law, or at least has made his pick to bring that influence into his sphere? And it’s not just Kavanagh, kids. Justice Neil Gorsuch is genuflecting as well.

Father Reidy is one of two Notre Dame law professors who will clerk for the Supreme Court starting this summer in anticipation of the upcoming term. Christian Burset will serve as a law clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Way back when John Fitzgerald Kennedy ran for president, his detractors claimed that he would be a shill for his true superior, the Pope. After all, if someone was Catholic, who else could he serve but the Holy Father? It was, of course, pure religious discrimination by those damn protestants, and, for all his flaws, JFK never took his orders from the Vatican.

But then, these are not just lawyers, not just law profs, but ordained priests. PRIESTS?!?

Some might find it strange to see an ordained minister working for the judicial branch of the federal government. But it is not necessarily “a conflict for a priest serving as a law clerk,” Father Dailey said. Following his graduation from Columbia Law School, Father Dailey clerked for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

“Father [Reidy] and I have both pursued law degrees after being ordained because we serve in a religious community focused on education,” Father Dailey explained. The two men met through the Congregation of Holy Cross more than 10 years ago, and both served as rectors of residence halls at Notre Dame during the same period.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know a few priests pretty well. Whether they’re representative of the priesthood, I can’t say. But what I can say is that I found them exceptionally smart, remarkably open-minded and, at least in my opinion, very funny. These were wonderful guys to hang out with, collar or not. More importantly, their experience with people gave them insight that few possessed.

But cynics and knaves will likely ascribe nefarious purpose to these justices having taken a padre into chambers. As a member of another religion, I should be fearful that they will infuse the justices’ decision making with their religious fervor. Yet, I do not. Indeed, I think just the opposite.

“Clerks advise judges, but the judges exercise all the power,” Father Dailey said. “Priests as law clerks are quite safe, since the ethical obligations of working in the judicial branch also require one to refrain from public partisanship.”

The Constitution protects the free exercise of religion and guards against official establishments of religion. But, as Garnett, the director of Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State, and Society, explained, “The Constitution does not impose any limits on the ability of religious people — including clergy — to participate in the legal profession, the legal academy or in public life.”

Father Reidy will bring maturity and experience along with intelligence to his clerkship. And notably, he will have no big money future coloring his advice or writing. While I would no more urge that all clerks be priests any more than all be rabbis, imams or lamas, there is nothing unsavory in the slightest about a lawyer, a law prof and a priest serving as a Supreme Court clerk. I join Father Bill Daily and Professor Rick Garnet, both of whom I hold in very high regard, in wishing Father Reidy a great clerkship.