Paul L. Caron
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Wednesday, October 5, 2022

12 Federal Judges Join Boycott, Refuse To Hire Yale Students As Law Clerks

Aaron Sibarium (Washington Free Beacon), Citing Concern for Free Speech, 12 Federal Judges Say They Won’t Take Clerks from Yale Law School:

Yale Law Logo (2020)A dozen federal judges say they are no longer hiring clerks from Yale Law School, citing a slew of scandals that they say have undermined free speech and intellectual diversity.

In addition to Fifth Circuit judge James Ho, who announced on Thursday that he would no longer hire law clerks from the nation’s top-ranked law school, 12 federal judges—both circuit and district court jurists—told the Washington Free Beacon they are joining the boycott.

"Students should be mindful that they will face diminished opportunities if they go to Yale," said a prominent circuit court judge, whose clerks have gone on to nab Supreme Court clerkships. "I have no confidence that they’re being taught anything."

With one exception, the judges made clear this is a policy they are imposing on future—not current—Yale Law School students. ...

The judges joining the boycott, all of whom requested anonymity in order to speak freely, cited a series of incidents where they say free speech has come under attack at Yale Law ...

The law school’s ideological monoculture also poses a problem for vetting clerkship applicants, some judges said, because there are simply no professors whom they trust to recommend conservative clerks. 

The feeder judge told the Free Beacon that he had long relied on Amy Chua, a left-leaning but heterodox Yale Law professor, for recommendations, but that the law school has made it a "speech and thought crime" for students to associate with her.

TaxProf Blog coverage:

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2022/10/12-federal-judges-join-boycott-refuse-to-hire-yale-students-as-law-clerks.html

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