Leo Terrell: Yale Law students do not want to hear the other side
Fox News contributor Leo Terrell reacts to some federal judges boycotting hiring Yale law clerks
Some U.S. federal judges are boycotting future Yale Law graduates for clerk positions, citing cancel culture concerns.
Trump-appointed U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho spearheaded the boycott at a Federalist Society conference last month, claiming the institution "not only tolerates the cancelation of views — it actively practices it," according to Reuters.
"I don’t want to cancel Yale," Ho told the outlet. "I want Yale to stop canceling people like me."
Ho invited other judges to join his boycott, and the call led Federal Appeals Court Judge Elizabeth Branch to announce she would join the effort in an Oct. 7 statement to National Review.
CONSERVATIVE LAWYER SLAMS YALE LAW SCHOOL FOR ‘BLATANTLY MISREPRESENTING’ LIBERAL STUDENTS' PROTEST
More than 120 students at Yale Law School protested a bipartisan free speech event on March 10. ( Yana Paskova/Getty Images, File) (Google Maps)
"My friend, Judge Jim Ho, recently raised legitimate concerns about the lack of free speech on law school campuses, Yale in particular," she said.
"Like Judge Ho, I am gravely concerned that the stifling of debate not only is antithetical to this country’s founding principles, but also stunts intellectual growth. Accordingly, I accept Judge Ho’s invitation to join him in declining to consider students from Yale Law School for clerkships with me, with an exception for past and current students."
Ho slammed the institution's alleged intolerance further, claiming that "cancelations and disruptions seem to occur with special frequency" on the campus, Reuters reported, noting he called out a March incident in which Alliance Defending Freedom President Kristen Waggoner was harassed by students supporting the LGBTQ+ community at a law school event.
Yale student Jishian Ravinthiran, center, raises his fist during a protest against Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda, on Capitol Hill, Monday, Sept. 24, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Waggoner, who recounted the incident on "Fox & Friends" in March, told anchor Steve Doocy that the "whole point of the panel was to demonstrate civil discourse between two ideological opponents and to show that, where you can find common ground in the law, you should."
"These students were more interested in heckling, hurling insults, and shouting down the speakers than engaging in civil dialogue," she added.
Civil rights attorney and Fox News contributor Leo Terrell praised Ho's decision Tuesday, arguing that law clerks should remain nonpartisan.
Yale University. (iStock)
"It's a great move by these judges and I applaud them. Why? Because you cannot have law clerks who are going to serve as members of the federal court system canceling half this country's viewpoint," Terrell told host Brian Kilmeade.
"The fundamental requirement for any law clerk is to be fair and to allow a marketplace of ideas," he continued. "What these law clerks, these students at Yale want to do, they want to indoctrinate Americans from the federal court system and basically use it as a propaganda tool. You cannot cancel half of this country simply because you do not like their viewpoint."
Members of the Yale community pushed back against Ho, however, calling the boycott ironic since conservative graduates would most likely be affected by the judges' decision.
"I find it funny — and counterintuitive if his ends actually are conservative — that a conservative judge would deny clerkship opportunities to conservative Yale Law students … as a means of punishing the school," Aggrey Odera, a law student, wrote in an email to Yale News.
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Ho's colleague, President Reagan-appointed Judge Jerry Smith, also criticized the decision, according to National Review's report, writing, "Instead of boycotting, I hope to receive even more Yale applications from qualified men and women, not only this year but in future years."
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