Federal Judge James Ho, who sits on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, was scheduled to speak at Georgetown Law School on Tuesday about originalism, a topic in constitutional legal theory.
Instead, he dedicated his speech to Ilya Shapiro, a conservative legal scholar who became a target of cancel culture last month.
Ilya Shapiro was slated to join the faculty of Georgetown Law School as a senior lecturer and as executive director of the law school's Center for the Constitution on Feb. 1. But that all changed after he condemned President Joe Biden's promise to seemingly nominate only a black woman to replace Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.
"Objectively best pick for Biden is Sri Srinivasan, who is solid prog & v smart," Shapiro tweeted, referring to the Chief United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "Even has identity politics benefit of being first Asian (Indian) American. But alas doesn't fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman. Thank heaven for small favors."
"Because Biden said he's only consider black women for SCOTUS, his nominee will always have an asterisk attached. Fitting that the Court takes up affirmative action next term," he said in a follow-up tweet.
The remarks triggered intense backlash that was led by Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern. Students at Georgetown Law School even demanded "reparations" and a place to "cry" because of Shapiro's tweets.
Despite apologizing for his "poor choice of words, which undermined my message that nobody should be discriminated against for his or her skin color," Georgetown placed Shapiro on administrative leave. Afterward, Shapiro expressed hope that, pending the school's investigation, he would be "vindicated."
Speaking to the Georgetown Federalist Society Chapter, Ho acknowledged that he was scheduled to speak about originalism, but decided to use his time for another important issue.
"I’m going to spend my time today talking about Ilya Shapiro," Ho told students.
According to National Review, Ho discussed three important issues related to the Shapiro controversy: ancel culture, freedom of speech, and the substance of Shapiro's criticism.
Remarkably, Ho ended his speech by saying that if Shapiro should be canceled, then he should be, too.
"Ilya has said that he should have chosen different words. That ought to be enough," Ho said, Reason reported. "I stand with Ilya on the paramount importance of color-blindness. And that same principle should apply whether we're talking about getting into college, getting your first job, or receiving an appointment to the highest court in the land. Racism is a scourge that America has not yet fully extinguished—and the first step in fighting racial discrimination is to stop practicing it."
"That's all Ilya is trying to say. That's all he has ever tried to say," Ho added. "And so, if Ilya Shapiro is deserving of cancellation, then you should go ahead and cancel me too."
Georgetown Law students held a sit-in demonstration on campus Tuesday to demand the immediate firing of Ilya Shapiro, a libertarian legal scholar who was recently hired as a lecturer and administrator at the school. They also called for a "reparations" package for black students to compensate them for missing class to attend the protest and asked for a safe space to "cry," requests that school administrators reportedly took seriously.
Shapiro, the vice president and director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, was put on administrative leave Monday because of a controversy regarding several tweets he posted on Jan. 26. Those tweets were critical of President Joe Biden's promise to exclusively nominate a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Shapiro's critics accuse him of harboring racist views towards black women and are calling for his cancellation by the university. The students conducting the sit-in declared in an announcement that the school did not go far enough, and that "Shapiro's rhetoric is not welcome at Georgetown Law, period."
"A coalition of Georgetown Law Students will gather for a sit-in calling for the immediate termination of Ilya Shapiro," the Georgetown Black Law Student Association said Monday.
The sit-in was live-streamed on the BLSA's Instagram page, National Review Online's Nate Hochman reported. Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor attended and answered questions from students, along with Mitch Bailin, the Georgetown University Law Center associate vice president and dean of students; Sheila Foster, the associate dean for equity and inclusion; and Amy Uelmen, the director of the school’s “Mission & Ministry” program.
William Treanor, the dean of Georgetown Law, is front-and-center at the sit-in. Taking questions from the Black Law Students Association, he tells the crowd that he wants "to draw a line between conservatism and things that are racist." https://twitter.com/njhochman/status/1488337388636147716\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/mcGJuTeJK0— Nate Hochman (@Nate Hochman) 1643728768
According to Hochman, Dean Treanor told the assembled students he was "appalled" by Shapiro's "painful" tweets and promised to "listen," "learn," and "do better" after hearing the complaints from students. While he emphatically apologized, he would not commit to taking further disciplinary action against Shapiro beyond investigating whether his tweets violated school policy.
“Since we’re a private institution, the First Amendment doesn’t apply to us,” Treanor said. “It’s not the First Amendment that’s the university’s guideline.” But he added, "on the other hand, the university does have a free speech and expression policy which binds us.”
Shapiro had tweeted that in his opinion, the best person Biden could nominate for the Supreme Court is Sri Srinivasan, an American of Indian descent who is currently the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Observing that Biden instead pledged to nominate a black woman, Shapiro said Srinivasan "doesn't fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman."
After online backlash led by Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern, Shapiro deleted his tweet and apologized for his "poor choice of words, which undermined my message that nobody should be discriminated against for his or her skin color." He expressed confidence that an investigation by the school would determine his tweet "didn't violate any university rule or policy, and indeed is protected by Georgetown policies on free expression."
The students at the sit-in were not satisfied by Treanor's appeal to school policy on free expression.
Hochman reported that the crowd accused him of being "dishonest" and demanded action be taken against Shapiro, who was set to become the executive director of the law school's Center for the Constitution. One student reportedly suggested that the school defund the center "if, worst-case scenario," Shapiro "were allowed to remain." She insisted that the ideas expressed in his tweets can't "be divorced" from the center going forward.
“If Shapiro is there, then his ideas and his rhetoric will be the center,” she said.
Another student questioned why the center exists in the first place, noting that its current director, Randy Barnett, is a constitutional originalist.
“Why was it created?” she asked. “Because so far it seems like it has done more harm than good.”
“You can do as much diversity training as you want with staff,” she continued. “But I feel like that center has a certain ideology ... so I really want you to defend why we really need it, beyond, like, you know, free speech, and beyond diversity of opinion. I really want us to think critically about why we still need it.”
Treanor said the center is "important" and added that he wanted to "draw a line between conservatism and things that are racist," according to Hochman.
Student demands did not stop at having Shapiro fired and the center where he is supposed to work defunded. One student asked the dean to cover for the classes they had missed to attend the sit-in as part of a larger "reparations" package for black students. In a follow-up question, she asked for a designated place on campus where traumatized would-be lawyers can go to cry.
“Is there an office they can go to?” she asked. “I don’t know what it would look like, but if they want to cry, if they need to break down, where can they go? Because we’re at a point where students are coming out of class to go to the bathroom to cry.”
“And this is not in the future,” she added. “This is today.”
"Coming back to this reparations thing...I don't know if it's a couple dinners or lunches or what, but that would help us," one activist says.\n\n"We have food on the way," the dean assures her.\n\n"Oh good, okay," she says.pic.twitter.com/W8lT3hPfIF— Nate Hochman (@Nate Hochman) 1643743168
That request was taken seriously by school administrators, Hochman reported.
"It is really, really hard to walk out of class or a meeting in tears, and you should always have a place on campus where you can go,” Dean Bailin answered. “And if you’re finding that you’re not getting the person that you want to talk to or not getting the space that you need, reach out to me anytime — anytime — and we will find you space.”
Mitch Bailin, GULC's dean of students, in response to the \u201cwhere can we cry\u201d query: \u201cIt is really hard to walk out of class or a meeting in tears, and you should always have a place on campus where you can go...reach out to me anytime\u2014anytime\u2014and we will find you space.\u201d https://twitter.com/njhochman/status/1488534446773051400\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/KquNfF2Dlf— Nate Hochman (@Nate Hochman) 1643736363
A libertarian legal scholar who was set to join the faculty at Georgetown Law has been placed on administrative leave by the school because of a controversy surrounding several now-deleted tweets he posted about President Joe Biden's pledge to nominate a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ilya Shapiro, vice president and director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, was supposed to assume a new position at Georgetown as a lecturer and as the executive director of the law school's Center for the Constitution on Tuesday. But the dean of the law school said Monday that Shapiro was placed on administrative leave "pending an investigation into whether he violated our policies and expectations on professional conduct, non-discrimination, and anti-harassment."
"Over the past several days, I have heard the pain and outrage of so many at Georgetown Law, and particularly from our Black female students, staff, alumni, and faculty. Ilya Shapiro’s tweets are antithetical to the work that we do here every day to build inclusion, belonging, and respect for diversity," Dean William Treanor wrote to the Georgetown Law Community.
"Pending the outcome of the investigation, he will remain on leave and not be on campus. This investigation will follow the procedures established by Georgetown University," he said.
Shapiro's hire by Georgetown Law was announced two weeks ago in a press release that celebrated him as a "highly influential brief writer, an expert on the history of Supreme Court nominations, and one of the premier public commentators on constitutional law." Shapiro, a first-generation American son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, is a celebrated writer and friend of many influential people in the conservative legal movement.
Following news reports that Associate Justice Stephen Breyer will retire this year, Shapiro took to Twitter to comment on Biden's campaign promise to exclusively nominate a black woman to fill a Supreme Court vacancy if one became available during his term.
"Objectively best pick for Biden is Sri Srinivasan, who is solid prog & v smart," Shapiro tweeted, referring to the Chief United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
"Even has identity politics benefit of being first Asian (Indian) American. But alas doesn't fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman. Thank heaven for small favors," he said.
"Because Biden said he's only consider black women for SCOTUS, his nominee will always have an asterisk attached. Fitting that the Court takes up affirmative action next term," he said in a follow-up tweet. Then he posted a poll asking whether Biden was racist, sexist, or both for promising to only nominate a black woman.
His tweets sparked intense backlash on social media, with many progressives accusing Shapiro of harboring racist views that should disqualify him from holding a position at Georgetown Law. The mob was led by Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern.
I hate to draw attention to this troll because attention is what he craves. But now that @GeorgetownLaw has hired him, I feel an obligation to condemn his overt and nauseating racism, which has been a matter of public record for some time. I am deeply ashamed of my alma mater.pic.twitter.com/OQaHPzZ8gK— Mark Joseph Stern (@Mark Joseph Stern) 1643290927
Responding to the controversy, Shapiro deleted his tweets and apologized for his "poor choice of words, which undermined my message that nobody should be discriminated against for his or her skin color."
A further statement:pic.twitter.com/nsIVRyfoiN— Ilya Shapiro (@Ilya Shapiro) 1643425714
After being placed on administrative leave by Georgetown, Shapiro issued another statement expressing hope that an investigation will find he did not violate the school's policies with his tweets.
"I'm optimistic that Georgetown's investigation will be fair, impartial, and professional, though there's really not much to investigate. And I'm confident that it will reach the only reasonable conclusion: my Tweet didn't violate any university rule or policy, and indeed is protected by Georgetown policies on free expression," Shapiro said.
"Accordingly, I expect to be vindicated and look forward to joining my new colleagues in short order," he said.
The New York Times runs interference for the 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' narrative by pushing shoddy evidence of its benefits.
It would be the height of employing a double standard if Georgetown Law School Dean William Treanor took any additional adverse action against Ilya Shapiro.
As attacks on Joe Rogan and Ilya Shapiro show, the woke have certain doctrines that one cannot deny while remaining part of their fellowship.
This is all about pressuring Georgetown to fire a man willing to denounce Biden’s racist and sexist criterion for Supreme Court nominees.
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