Eric Gottlieb
With just one month left to apply to the At-Large and Innovation Fellowships, we’re excited to highlight one of our recent At-Large Fellows, Eric Gottlieb! Eric is not only a Presidential Fellow alum, but was also selected to be a Marshall Scholar! Read about Eric’s experience in the program and head to our other opportunities page to explore details on both the At-Large and Innovation Fellowship opportunities.
Applications are due by July 1 — don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to join!
What are you doing now?
Right now, I’m spending the summer back home in California. I’ll be working as a judicial intern at the Santa Clara County Superior Court doing legal research for one of the trial judges there: Judge Cynthia Sevely. I’m also doing some legal research on the side—I’m working remotely for the Law Library of Congress and conducting independent research on originalist jurisprudence (specifically, on what scholars of constitutional law and statutory interpretation call the “interpretation-construction” distinction).
How did you hear about the At-Large Fellows program and what inspired you to apply?
I first heard about the At-Large Fellows program on LinkedIn. I was browsing through my feed sometime during the summer after my junior year and saw an announcement saying that the program was open to new applicants. From there, I went to CSPC’s website and learned everything I needed to know in order to apply.
What is your favorite memory from the Fellowship?
My favorite memory from the Fellowship was when we had the chance to visit the Supreme Court. There, we spoke with Chief Justice Roberts’ chief of staff, Judge Robert Dow, for about an hour and a half. That was the first time I had met with a former federal district judge, and so I was eager to hear about his career—why he chose to leave private practice for the bench, what it was like leaving the bench to be the Chief Justice’s chief of staff, how the Court was run behind closed doors, etc. I found the talk fascinating.
How has the Fellowship supported your academic or career goals?
I think that the fellowship confirmed to me that I wanted to pursue a career in public service. At the Leadership Conference, I had the chance to meet seasoned policy analysts, lawyers, and diplomats and hear how they ended up in the careers that they did. Without the Fellowship, it would have been a lot harder for me to meet so many successful public servants who were willing to offer me career advice. The Fellowship also inspired me to continue pursuing a career in public interest law. Going to the Supreme Court and hearing from the Chief Justice’s chief of staff was inspiring.
If you could have any job, what would it be?
If I could have any job, I would love to be an appellate judge on the federal circuit. I love the type of thinking that appellate judges do—a type of thinking where you have to carefully tease out the meaning of laws that otherwise seem to be confusing (at least in terms of their application to a specific set of circumstances). But at the same time, I want a career that allows me to tangibly make the US a more equitable and just place to live in. I think being an appellate judge would be the ideal career for me since it would let me do both of those things.