Georgetown Law puts libertarian scholar Ilya Shapiro on administrative leave after cancel-culture mob attacks Supreme Court tweets



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.

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SCOTUS Justice Breyer warns fellow liberals against packing the court: 'What goes around comes around'



Liberals have been crying for Congress to pack the Supreme Court — meaning expanding the size of the court and filling the newly created vacancies with left-wingers — for some time. And the demands have grown more shrill over the last year-plus.

But one prominent liberal with a vested interest in the topic issued a warning: Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told National Public Radio this week that liberals wanting to remake the high court to need to understand that "what goes around comes around."

What's all this?

Throughout the 2020 elections, liberal Democrats elevated their push to pack the court after the Senate narrowly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett, then-President Donald Trump's nominee to replace leftist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The battle over Barrett's nomination was exceptionally bitter for the left, not only because she was replacing the "notorious RBG," but also because Trump had successfully nominated two other justices to the Supreme Court — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — in just his first term.

Following what many observers called a "conservative shift" on the high court thanks to Trump's nominations, the left attempted to make court-packing a campaign issue — though they could not get their nominee, Joe Biden, to buy in. He refused to say during the campaign whether he'd pack the court, though he did promise progressives that he would create a commission to study the idea — a promise he came through on in April.

And the court-packing cause got a major bump this month when the Supreme Court refused to knock down Texas' new law barring abortions after six weeks' gestation.

But not all liberals are on board with court-packing. Ginsburg, herself, famously warned against such a move.

Now, Justice Breyer is sounding alarm bells against packing the judiciary.

In an interview with NPR's Nina Totenberg this week to discuss his new book, "The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics," the justice told those who want to remake the court to be careful what they wish for.

Totenberg took on Breyer about his take that "people respect the court even when they disagree with it because the public at large has come to understand and respect the law," that "if we fiddle with the court's structure ... we will be frittering away all of the long-won respect the court has earned," and that "people will no longer respect the court's decisions and they would abide by decisions that they think are just delivered by a bunch of pols."

"I've learned over time," Breyer responded, "that it's very, very difficult to get people who think that some court decision is totally wrong to think that I should follow it nonetheless."

He said that the person who helped him learn that lesson was former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) who, though he disagreed adamantly with the Bush v. Gore ruling that made George W. Bush president in 2000, noted that, as Breyer characterized it, "the most remarkable thing about this case is something that's rarely remarked, even though it affected a lot of people, and probably half the country didn't like it at all ... people followed it, and they didn't throw brickbats at each other and they didn't shoot each other and they didn't have riots."

It has taken the U.S. 200 years to get to that point, Breyer said, so he cautioned those who would call for a remaking of the court to "take all this into account, my friends."

"Of course the court has made some terrible decisions," he continued.

"But be careful," he said, because it has taken a long time to get to the place where people will follow the court's rulings.

Totenberg responded to Breyer by suggesting that Reid's stance is outdated — as exemplified, she said, by the Jan. 6 riots — and that they don't have "faith in institutions" any longer, which would allegedly justify liberals' attempts to revamp the court.

Breyer responded, "What goes around comes around. If the Democrats can do it, the Republicans can do it."

"Beware," the justice added. "Be careful."

Breyer Warns Against Remaking The Court: 'What Goes Around Comes Around' | NPR www.youtube.com

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