At least two Aileen Cannon law clerks recently quit: legal analyst

Florida District Court Judge Aileen Cannon has been drawing the bad kind of attention since entering the judicial spotlight — and now it seems staffers are putting their own resumes first.

AboveTheLaw co-founder David Lat wrote Thursday on his Substack that two of her clerks recently resigned. Clerks typically focus on writing and research for the judge.

He cited a Tuesday New York Times article that addressed the "slow pace" of Cannon's court. She "has done herself no favors by allowing a logjam of unresolved issues to build up on her docket," the report stated.

"I have an idea of at least one factor behind the delays: Judge Cannon has had at least two law clerks quit on her, according to multiple sources — including individuals who serve in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where she sits," wrote Lat.

He explained that a federal district court judge like Cannon typically hires two or three clerks annually, so when two quit, it significantly cuts her staff, he said.

Lat also noted that it's "highly unusual" for a clerk to quit because the job only lasts a year and is so valuable to a résumé.

"Over the past few days, I have sent multiple emails to the Public Information Office for the Southern District of Florida and to Judge Cannon’s chambers, requesting comment on reports that at least two of her clerks have departed before the scheduled end of their clerkships," Lat revealed.

"I have received read receipts, but no responses (even though, in my experience, subjects are eager to warn me off bad information— for which I’m always grateful).

Lat noted that a clerk resigning causes an "extremely unpleasant situation."

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"Even if clerks who leave get replaced immediately — which doesn’t always happen, especially if clerks quit on short notice, or the judge is too busy to focus on hiring — successor clerks need to get up to speed, on both chambers procedures and the substance of cases. This is very time-consuming, especially in complex cases like the Trump classified-documents prosecution," he wrote.

He wrote being understaffed would make Cannon's "logjam" "less surprising."

In a series of updates, Lat said that he'd discovered one clerk who had been there for two years quit in 2023 after having a child. Another clerk, however, quit for a reason that remains unclear and "law school classmates have been buzzing about the news," he said.

One clerk left in Oct. 2023, and another left in Dec. 2023.

In another update, Lat reported Cannon has three clerks and one temporary.

Read the full piece here.