Intern Case Would Be Awkward for Supreme Court

Cases have been popping up recently of unpaid interns suing their non-employers, and hopefully someday one of them makes its way to the Supreme Court. "There it would put a spotlight on a great irony: The Supreme Court has unpaid interns, too," Jonathan Weil at Bloomberg points out. High-court interns work eight hours a day, five days a week, "thus, other employment is not feasible," a brochure explains. They don't get to work with the justices, or on the court's big cases; they mostly summarize news articles, write memos, and conduct research.

The court's interns can apply for a "monetary scholarship," but only after they've completed the internship. "Paid or not, of course, many people would view working at the Supreme Court as an incredible opportunity," writes Weil. "Someday the justices may have to ask if what's good for the court is also good for the rest of the country. The example the court is setting speaks volumes already." Click for the full column. (More intern stories.)