Courageous and Important Stand
America boasts 204 accredited law schools. Assuming each of them provides 100 brand new graduates, 20,000 “legal eagles” are available to litigate lawsuits by and against Donald Trump each year. That may not be enough.
The Supreme Court currently draws its Justices from exactly two law schools, Harvard and Yale. The Federalist Society, Mitch McConnell, and Donnie showed no elitism at all as they “packed the court”. Of course, Earl Warren, the Chief Justice who gave us Brown v. Board of Education and Ruth Bader Ginsberg who gave us Roe v. Wade were Cal-Berkeley and Columbia Law grads. If you want to eliminate abortion and limit voting rights, you want those Harvard or Yale grads on the Highest Court in the Land.
Or do you? Judge James C. Ho of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals announced that he will no longer accept clerks from Yale Law School, “a place where censorious liberals suppress conservative voices with a particular cruelty. Yale not only tolerates cancel culture. It actively practices it.”
Not surprisingly, Ted Cruz loved Judge Ho’s comments. “Yale is a cancel culture cesspool. Judge Ho’s takedown is a courageous and important stand that I hope other judges will replicate.”
What does this “courageous and important stand” actually accomplish? Clerking on a high Federal Court is the path to future nomination to the Federal bench yourself. Every Supreme Court Justice began as a law clerk. If Judge Ho’s practice catches on, future Yale Law grads can never ascend to the Supreme Court. That sounds just like cancel culture to me.
Had Judge Ho’s practices been in place throughout the Federal judiciary, Yale Law grads Clarence Thomas (’74), Samuel Alito (’75) and Brett Kavanaugh (’90) would never have made the Supreme Court. That would certainly be a negative for American jurisprudence.
A “courageous and important stand” is for the Supreme Court to reflect the American populace. Four of nine Justices being women is a good start. Eliminating Yale Law grads is not.
By Ed Dufton
