Cushman on the Clerks of the Four Horsemen

Barry Cushman has an article that is forthcoming in Volume 39 of the Journal of Supreme Court History entitled The Clerks of the Four Horsemen.  Here is the abstract:

The names of Holmes clerks such as Tommy Corcoran and Francis Biddle, of Brandeis clerks such as Dean Acheson and Henry Friendly, and of Stone clerks such as Harold Leventhal and Herbert Wechsler ring down the pages of history. But how much do we really know about Carlyle Baer, Tench Marye, or Milton Musser? This article follows the interesting and often surprising lives and careers of the men who clerked for the Four Horsemen - Justices Van Devanter, McReynolds, Sutherland, and Butler. These biographical sketches confound easy stereotypes, and prove the adage that law, like politics, can make for strange bedfellows.

While the article itself lacks a unifying theme other than showing that the clerks had varying career outcomes and political philosophies, it is still a fascinating read -- and people who don't like Justice McReynolds will find more evidence to back up their opinions.

Cushman is no stranger to the Four Horsemen, having also authored this 2011 article, The Secret Lives of the Four Horsemen, in which he argues that Justices Van Devanter, McReynolds, Sutherland, and Butler were not only occasionally nice people, but were also closet liberals based on their lesser-known cases.