Clerking for Justice Harlan Fiske Stone Milton C. Handler Editor's Note: Professor Handler was asked to provide reminiscences of a personal nature in this article. It is not intended as a critique of Stone’ s jurisprudence. In December of 1925, Harlan Fiske Stone interviewed me in the dean’s office of Columbia Law School for possible appointment as law secretary (as it was then called) for the 1926 Term, his second on the Court. When I walked into this office, I noted that the lower part ofthe window had been opened full length. There was a gale raging in the room. There he sat with his jacket wide open, oblivious to the wind and the cold. It was bad enough to be quaking with ner vousness, but to be shivering also from the cold was hardly conducive to a satisfactory interview. He put me at ease, asking me some pertinent questions about the courses I had taken, what I thought ofthe law school, and probing my quali fications for the clerkship. He then told me that the work was very heavy and that he felt it nec essary to impose two requirements. One was that I not marry during the period of my clerkship and, second, that I must be able to type. I had to confess that typing was not one of my talents, but I was very emphatic that there was no pros pect whatsoever ofmy getting married that year. He made it clear that the reason for the unusual condition ofnot marrying was that the work ofa clerk was very exacting and time consuming, and he didn’t feel that it would be fair to a young bride to spend a year in Washington, never see ing or having the company of her spouse. Thus reassured, he offered the job to me. I then informed him that Emory Buchner had offered me an assistantship in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York. “You go down and tell Buchner that I want you as my law clerk next year and I am sure he will release you.” This I subsequently did, with Buchner graciously releasing me while expressing his opinion I was making a great mistake. In due course, I spent a week in Washington during the spring vacation, being oriented by Alfred McCormick, my predecessor. I was then informed that I would be required to prepare memoranda on the summer accumulation ofcer tiorari petitions during the month of September, the Justice having arranged for half of the peti tions to be sent to his summer home in Isle au Haut, Maine. When he arrived in Washington toward the end of September, I had completed my half ofthe certiorari task. TheTerm began in October. The Court would sit for two weeks of argument, with conferences on Saturdays to decide the cases it had heard, and then recess for two weeks during which the Justices would write their opinions. Stone’s rou tine varied considerably, depending on whether the Court was hearing argument or in recess. I’ll try to give a picture of that routine, which he followed as methodically as Immanuel Kant. Stone was an early riser. He would finish breakfast at 7:00, take a walk until 8:00, and then visit the construction site of his magnifi 114 1995 JOURNAL cent home, which was being built during my clerkship. He rarely missed a day in going to the site, where he would examine everything that had been done the previous day. Every bit of material that went into the house was personally examined by him. In this connection, I was called upon to obtain literally hundreds ofbooks from the Library of Congress on the design of fireplaces, mantle pieces, locks and hardware, paneling, trim and floors, etc. After visiting the site, he would come in to his chambers, which were on the first floor of the Senate Office Building. On arrival, he would open all the windows, regardless of the weather. When he buzzed Miss [Gertrude] Jenkins, his secretary, she would don her heavy winter coat and take his dictation fully attired for the outdoors. The first order of business, no matter...