Are Supreme Court Internships Only For Privileged? Making Judicial Internships Inclusive In 2025

Being a student myself now who has to navigate through the system to get that internship, I have seen a few judicial internships, and the top ones especially, becoming these gatekept privileges. In a country that boasts constitutional values like equality and fairness, this kind of silent exclusion needs attention and manifest reform.

The Hidden Hurdles: Why Access Remains Limited

There is no centralized internship portal with the Supreme Court. Traditionally, internships are obtained by way of direct application to individual judges. This system, in actuality, has remained undocumented, opaque, and rarely advertised. Many applicants get selected for an internship through personal contacts, recommendations from eminent faculty, or references within legal circles.

Let's look at what the issue is:

1. No Notice, No Transparent Selection

- Students never get to hear when or how to apply for an internship. This disproportionately affects a student who hails from a non-NLU background or Tier 2 or Tier 3 college because these colleges never have a system for the same or the faculty to guide them.

2. Networking Does Wonders

- If your professor knows a judge or if your family has legal connections, your chances get better. For a first-generation law student, this uphill task remains almost insurmountable.

3. Linguistic and Socio-Cultural Barriers

- English is primarily used in court proceedings and filing applications. Students from non-English medium backgrounds, often hailing from rural areas and government colleges, may face the problem of drafting a convincing application-well, they may have the competence.

4. No stipends or financial support

- Many students from marginalized sections of society simply cannot afford to live in Delhi unpaid for a month, especially, with net costs about housing, travel, and food. Judicial internships go unpaid, which practically entails that once you are qualified, you would have to give it up anyway.

Constitutional Lens: A Violation of Article 14?

Access is not only administrative but constitutional. Article 14 grants equality before the law and equal protection of the laws. When put generally, equality should be extended at all levels of governance, including at the level of the Supreme Court, in intern selection.

Judicial internships have an exclusivist attitude that, apart from institutional discrimination, stains the moral right of the judiciary to claim representation of all sections of society.

Internships as the First Step Toward Access to Justice

The internship for many is a notch on the resume; many see it as a hallmark occasion when they witness courtroom dynamics first hand, observe procedures, or meet potential mentors. Judicial internships, in particular, determine the way law is interpreted and experienced at the highest level.

If we deny equal access to this learning opportunity, we are, in a way, denying access to justice itself- at least to the very process of comprehending it.

Why 2025 is the Right Time for Reform

o The year 2025 is one for deeper structural reforms in the judiciary, including more digitization, diversity, and public accountability. Judicial internships must be given their due consideration in this wave.

Three steps that the Supreme Court may consider going forward are:

1) Create a Central Internship Portal

- One platform to apply, view deadlines, and understand requirements for all judges. This will democratize information.

2) Set Diversity Quotas or Access Points

- Encourage representation from government colleges, first-generation students, and underrepresented communities.

3) Set a Basic Intern Stipend

- A small stipend would allow economically weaker students to participate and reaffirm the idea of inclusivity.

Global and National Comparisons

The United Kingdom and the United States have centralized judicial internship programs, many of which award a stipend or scholarship. In India too, various High Courts, such as Delhi and Bombay, are experimenting with an organized application process, one that could be modeled by the Supreme Court.

In recent legal discourse, transparency in the judiciary has garnered renewed attention, especially due to concerns with sealed cover jurisprudence and lack of judicial accountability. Offering internships can become both a symbolic and pragmatic beginning point for restoring the public trust.

Voices That Must Be Heard

It's just not a matter of law and order any longer-an issue which remains at heart personal to the thousands of law students, like me, who year after year have been working hard only to have doors closed simply because they lack the right surname or source.

The lack of opportunity-that is the barrier, not lack of ability.

And for one who still yearns for the opportunity to sit in a courtroom, see justice unfold, and partake meaningfully in that process, I ask the question: Will the Supreme Court increase our numbers?

Conclusion: The Judiciary Must Lead by Example

If it stays an elite concept further at the intern level, how can it then expect to keep up the principle of equality on the bench? Inclusiveness has to really start somewhere, be it in appointment, judgment, or even internships.

The Supreme Court has always protected constitutional values, and may 2025 become the year wherein it also becomes a symbol of opportunity and fairness.

Views are personal.