Micah Quigley, ’21, Talks to the Chicago Maroon about Upcoming Supreme Court Clerkship
UChicago Law Alum to Clerk for Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch
Micah Quigley (J.D. ’21) will clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch during the October 2025–26 term. In an interview with the Maroon, he spoke about how his interests aligned with Gorsuch, his originalist legal philosophy, and how he grounds himself in the legal landscape.
Quigley is one of seven UChicago Law School graduates who will begin clerkships with Supreme Court Justices during the October 2025–26 term. He currently works as an associate attorney for Gibson Dunn and was previously a member of the University of Chicago Law Review.
Clerkships offer law school graduates the opportunity to work directly with a sitting judge or justice, assisting them with legal research, preparing for court proceedings, and drafting opinions and orders. Supreme Court clerkships are among the most prestigious opportunities available to early career lawyers—there are no more than 36 clerks at any given time—allowing them to participate in the United States’ most important legal proceedings and frequently opening the door to elite legal careers.
Although clerkships also provide lawyers with an opportunity to learn from a sitting judge or justice, Quigley, who previously completed clerkships with Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Andrew Oldham and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neomi Rao, does not believe that a clerk’s primary task is to learn.
“The role of a clerk is to be an agent of justice and help the justice ascertain what the law is,” he said. “I think there is no other agenda for a clerk… other than helping the justice.”
According to Quigley, a clerkship with Gorsuch aligns well with his interests and legal perspective. He identifies as an originalist—a legal philosophy favored by conservatives that aims to interpret the Constitution and other legal texts as would have been understood when they were written. More specifically, he sees himself as “an original law originalist.”
Read more at The Chicago Maroon