Nathaniel Sutton ’21 Serves as U.S. Supreme Court Clerk

Nathaniel Sutton, a 2021 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, is clerking for Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the U.S. Supreme Court for the 2023 term, which officially begins Oct. 2. Sutton is the second UVA Law alumnus to line up a high court clerkship for this term.

The Law School is fifth after Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Chicago in placing clerks on the U.S. Supreme Court from the 2007 through 2023 terms. Avery Rasmussen ’21 is clerking for Justice Brett Kavanaugh for the 2023 term. Sutton and Rasmussen’s 2021 classmates Erin Brown and Rachel Daley will clerk at the court during the 2024 term.

Sutton previously clerked for Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and Judge Daniel A. Bress ’05 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

At UVA Law, Sutton was a member of the Order of the Coif, an editorial board member of the Virginia Law Review, clerkships chair of the Federalist Society, a participant in the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and a research assistant for Professor Aditya Bamzai.

Sutton’s 2021 paper, “Lockstepping Through Stop-and-Frisk: A Call to Independently Assess Terry v. Ohio Under State Law,” published in the Virginia Law Review, explains how litigants can challenge stop-and-frisk under state law.

“Nathaniel was a brilliant student in class and always had probing questions and insightful comments to share in office hours, over lunch and in the hallways, and he was extremely amiable and well-liked,” Professor Saikrishna Prakash said. “We were lucky to have him at UVA Law.”

Though as an active clerk Sutton could not give an interview, he emailed that he was thankful for his friends and professors at UVA, “without whom this opportunity would not be possible.”

“I would also like to express my gratitude toward Judge Bress and Chief Judge Pryor for their support and mentorship,” he added.

Sutton earned his bachelor’s degree from Williams College.