{"id":5109,"date":"2026-05-13T15:08:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5109"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:18:16","slug":"ember-jones","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/ember-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"Ember Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Jones-Ember.jpg\" alt=\"by Corban Swain\" class=\"wp-image-5605\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:cover;width:186px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Jones-Ember.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Jones-Ember-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>North Carolina Central University<\/strong><br>Faculty Advisor: Prof. Ariel White<br>Research Supervisor: Adam Berinsky<br>Department: Political Science<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ember Jones is a second-year Cheatham-White Scholar at North Carolina Central<br>University (NCCU), where he majors in political science and minors in criminal justice. His<br>academic interests focus on American politics and the institutions that shape political behavior.<br>A lifelong interest in the judicial system sparked his passion for studying the political and<br>legal forces that influence society. At NCCU, Ember is involved in the Mock Trial and Debate<br>Team, Students in Public Service, and the Political Science Club. His research experience<br>includes examining elitism in the Supreme Court clerkship process, the role of the Federalist<br>Society among former SCOTUS clerks, and the motivations of protesters participating in<br>demonstrations in North Carolina. These projects have strengthened his analytical and research<br>skills while deepening his understanding of political institutions and behavior. Ember plans to<br>pursue a PhD, and potentially a JD-PhD, to contribute to research in American politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>The Presence of the Federalist Society Among Supreme Court Clerks<br>Ember Jones<\/strong><br>Department of Political Science, North Carolina Central University<br>Department of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>The legal profession has long debated whether Supreme Court clerkships are awarded<br>primarily on merit or ideological networks. Previous research has examined feeder judges, elite<br>law schools, and personal connections; however, the Federalist Society&#8217;s role in the Supreme<br>Court clerkship pipeline remains poorly understood. This project examines whether publicly<br>identifiable Federalist Society affiliation is disproportionately represented among Supreme<br>Court clerks serving conservative justices between 2000 and 2025. Anecdotally, it is frequently<br>argued that the Federalist Society is influential in the conservative legal pipeline; however,<br>systematic evidence is limited. This study addresses that gap by measuring publicly identifiable<br>affiliation over 25 years, contributing empirical evidence to debates about ideological sorting<br>in the judiciary. Using publicly available records, I will compile Supreme Court clerk data<br>from 2000-2025 and code Federalist Society affiliation into three categories: participation in<br>one event, multiple events or confirmed membership, and confirmed leadership positions. I will<br>compare affiliation rates across justices using Martin\u2013Quinn ideology scores. Data collection<br>is currently underway. This research will provide one of the first systematic measures of<br>Federalist Society representation in Supreme Court clerkships and a foundation for future<br>research on clerkship selection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5450,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5109","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5713,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5109\/revisions\/5713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}