Supreme Court clerks hit with nondisclosure contracts amid panic over leaks: report

The Supreme Court has come under fire after insiders revealed staffers are being told to sign formal contracts opening them to legal action if they reveal secrets.

Representatives could previously rely on informal pledges from justices based on longstanding norms — but those relaxed understandings could be at an end, an expert claimed Monday. An overhaul and fresh contract for the Supreme Court is set to come into play which, according to Jeffrey L. Fisher, co-director of the Supreme Court litigation clinic at Stanford Law School, is a sign the court is not as trusting as it once was.

Speaking to the New York Times, Fisher, a former clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens, said, "They feel under the microscope and are unwilling to rely simply on trust."

Switching from the informal trust to formal confidentiality contracts within the Supreme Court has been branded by law professor Mark Fenster as a "sign of the court's own weakness."

Nondisclosure agreements were imposed by Chief Justice John Roberts in late 2024. Jodi Kantor, writing in the New York Times, wrote that these NDAs were a result of unusual leaks and ethical lapses.

She wrote, "The chief justice acted after a series of unusual leaks of internal court documents, most notably of the decision overturning the right to abortion, and news reports about ethical lapses by the justices.

"Trust in the institution was languishing at a historic low. Debate was intensifying over whether the black box institution should be more transparent. Instead, the chief justice tightened the court’s hold on information.

"Its employees have long been expected to stay silent about what they witness behind the scenes. But starting that autumn, in a move that has not been previously reported, the chief justice converted what was once a norm into a formal contract, according to five people familiar with the shift."

The report stated, "The New York Times has not reviewed the new agreements. But people familiar with them said they appeared to be more forceful and understood them to threaten legal action if an employee revealed confidential information. Clerks and members of the court’s support staff signed them in 2024, and new arrivals have continued to do so, the people said."

Kantor went on to suggest new proposals introduced internally are "more forceful and understood them to threaten legal action if an employee revealed confidential information."