John Blonigen
John Blonigen
Summer Law Clerk
Law School: Notre Dame
College: University of Dallas
Expected Graduation: May 2027
Hometown: Lawrence, KS
Campus Activities: ND Chorale, Federalist Society, Jus Vitae
What were your duties as an NCLA clerk?:
I prepared research memos for attorneys on specific legal questions that came up in NCLA cases, researched potential venues and drafted a facts section for a future Education is Speech challenge, and helped draft the motion to dismiss response in the BASE Access case.
What did you most enjoy about your clerkship?
Basking in the insanity of my fellow clerks. On a work front, I enjoyed getting to answer legal questions using obscure lines of case law that I otherwise never would have known existed. It’s a great feeling when, after hours of diving into Westlaw from different angles, you finally find precedent that’s spot-on for the issue.
What interesting thing(s) did you learn about Administrative Law?
That the government is protected in a way that no other litigant is. In several of the cases I worked on, we wanted to sanction and handicap the government for their mistakes and misconduct but found out that we couldn’t because of the high bar case law sets. There’s even a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (55(d)) that sets a higher standard for getting default judgment against the government than against other parties.
How might you use what you’ve learned later in your professional career?
After studying civil procedure during my second semester of law school, I got a lot of practical experience with the concepts that will give me a head start when I encounter them again.
Any advice for other students who want to clerk at NCLA in the future?
Make sure you get to know not only your fellow summers, but the permanent staff as well. Take advantage of the social opportunities that NCLA offers and create some of your own as well. Also, if there’s a type of assignment you want to work on, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for it.
NCLA Clerks
Theo Banaszewski
Summer Clerk
Ian Baumer
Summer Clerk
John Blonigen
Summer Clerk
Helen Boone
Summer Clerk
Andrew Hoffman
Summer Clerk
Victoria Kelly
Summer Clerk
Maeve Neville
Summer Clerk
Tommy Schacht
Summer Clerk
Christian Sekosan
Summer Clerk
Menashe Shapiro
Summer Clerk
Edward Sheehan
Summer Clerk
John Welte
Summer Clerk
Maeve Zhou
Summer Clerk
Lucy Collins
Summer Clerk
Erik Gordon
Summer Clerk
Alex Kagan
Summer Clerk
Logan Markle
Summer Clerk
Benjamin Marsh
Summer Clerk
Andrew Meyer
Summer Clerk
Alexander Phipps
Summer Clerk
Benjamin Sutter
Summer Clerk
Ivan Tseng
Summer Clerk
Alexis Vocatura
Summer Clerk
Alexandra Walsh
Summer Clerk
Eli Burstein
Summer Clerk
Andrew Ceonzo
Summer Clerk
Matthew Lambertson
Summer Clerk
Varun Mandgi
Summer Clerk
Jessica Moeller
Summer Clerk
Ben Ogilvie
Summer Clerk
Joseph Partain
Summer Clerk
Tiffany Pettus
Spring Intern
Randy Quarles
Summer Clerk
David Ahnen
Summer Clerk
Kyle Atwood
Summer Clerk
Nick Chesrown
Summer Clerk
Nathan Darmon
Summer Intern
Tahmineh Dehbozorgi
Summer Clerk
Robert Fellner
Summer Clerk
Lacey Frederick
Summer Clerk
Stephen Hirschbuehler
Summer Clerk
Emily Johnson
Summer Clerk
Sanat Mehta
Summer Clerk
Jonathan Nicastro
Spring Engagement Intern
Jameson Payne
Summer Intern
Abigail Schwartz
Summer Clerk
Daniel Whalen
Summer Clerk
Matthew Chisholm
Summer Intern | Engagement Intern
Christian Clase
Summer Clerk
Bradley Davis
Summer Clerk
David Gonzalez
Spring Clerk
Nathaniel Lawson
Summer Clerk
Robert McLeod
Summer Clerk
Rebekah Salas Mercer
Spring Clerk
Zoie Mestayer
Summer Clerk
Zachary Mullinax
Summer Clerk
Samuel Renner
Summer Clerk
Lauren Renslow
Summer Clerk
Andreia Trifoi
Summer Clerk
Tate Curington
Summer Clerk
Tabitha Kempf
Summer Clerk
Andrew Klee
Summer Clerk
Bradley Larson
Summer Clerk
Andrew Lee
Summer Clerk
Isaiah McKinney
Summer Clerk
Bryan Poellot
Summer Clerk
Jillian Stern
Summer Clerk
Jake Altik
Summer Clerk
Ethan Beck
Summer Clerk
Madeleine Case
Summer Clerk
Haley Connor
Summer Clerk
Gelane Diamond
Summer Clerk
Aaron Gordon
Summer Clerk
Chris Parker
Spring Clerk
Jay Schaefer
Summer Clerk