The U.S. court system should not be “invent[ing] new minorities that get special protections” or answering questions of national security, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last week told 300 people gathered in Montana ballroom for a meeting sponsored by the Federalist Society.

At least six New York City-based law firms, including Gibson Dunn and Munger Tolles, have offered lawyers who served as clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2012 October Term $300,000 signing bonuses. So reports Above The Law.

Between the recession, sequestration and the privatization of legal work some experts are worried a perfect storm is brewing, leading to a rapidly shrinking court system, and in turn, a threat to justice and the Constitution.

The law-firm ecosystem has undergone dramatic changes in recent years. A recent article from the New Republic uses shocking first-hand accounts of current and former partners and associates at the Chicago-based law firm Mayer Brown to illustrate what life is like at big law firms now that there are many more high-priced lawyers than there is high-priced legal work.