Fifth Circuit Judicial Council Upholds Dismissal Of Prisoner's Complaint Against 8 Trump-Appointed Federal Judges Who Vowed Not To Hire Columbia Graduates As Law Clerks

Judicial Council for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Nos. 05-24-90083 - 05-24-90090 (June 24, 2024):

Complainant, a state prisoner, has filed a complaint against a United States Circuit Judge and seven United States District Judges.

The subject judges¹ signed a letter addressed to the president of a university, criticizing the university for its asserted inaction with respect to protests following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. In the letter, the judges state that on the university’s campus “[d]isruptors have threatened violence, committed assaults, and destroyed property”; the university has become “an incubator of bigotry”; and “professors and administrators are on the front lines of the campus disruptions, encouraging the virulent spread of antisemitism and bigotry.” The judges state that they have lost confidence in the university as an institution of higher education, and that they will not hire law clerks with undergraduate or law degrees from the university starting with the entering class of 2024.

1  The letter was also signed by [5] judges from other circuits and districts. ...

The subject judges have chosen to boycott the hiring of future graduates of the university as a means to implement their hiring discretion. While reasonable jurists may disagree about the effectiveness of their method and whether it is justified, the judges have not engaged in misconduct.

Judicial Council for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Nos. 05-24-90083 - 05-24-90090 (Aug. 2, 2024):

An Appellate Review Panel of the Judicial Council for the Fifth Circuit has reviewed the above-captioned petition for review, and all the members of the Panel have voted to affirm the order of the Chief Judge, Priscilla Richman, filed June 24, 2024, dismissing the Complaint of [redacted] against United States [redacted] .... The Order is therefore AFFIRMED.

ABA Journal, Misconduct Complaint Tossed Against Federal Judges Who Pledged Not to Hire Clerks from Columbia:

Five judges in other circuits, including Judge Elizabeth L. Branch of the 11th Circuit at Atlanta, had also signed the letter, but they were not targeted in the 5th Circuit ethics complaint.

Besides [Judge James C.] Ho, the seven judges within the 5th Circuit who signed the letter were Judge Alan Albright, Judge David Counts, Judge James W. Hendrix, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle, Judge Brantley Starr and Judge Drew B. Tipton.

Besides Branch, judges outside the 5th Circuit who signed the letter were Judge Stephen Alexander Vaden, Judge Matthew H. Solomson, Judge Tilman E. Self III and Judge Daniel M. Traynor.

All 13 judges who signed the letter are appointees of former President Donald Trump.

• Bloomberg Law, Judges’ Clerk Ban Over Israel-Hamas Protests Ethical, Panel Says
• Law360, 5th Circ. Finds No Misconduct In Judges' Columbia Boycott
• National Law Journal, Judicial Council Upholds Dismissal of Complaint Against Judges Who Vowed Not to Hire Columbia Law Clerks
• Reuters, US Judges Cleared of Misconduct Over Columbia Clerk Hiring Boycott

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• New York Times, 54 Columbia Law Faculty Condemn Administration For Disciplinary Action Against Anti-Israel Student Protesters (Apr. 23, 2024)
• Washington Post, Punish Columbia Professors, Not Students Protesters, For The Intellectual Degeneration On Campus (Apr. 28, 2024)
• Law.com, Columbia Law School Delays Exams Amid Protests and Police Activity (May 1, 2024)
• Bloomberg Law, Columbia Law School Offers Optional Pass/Fail Grading Amid Campus Protests (May 2, 2024)
• Washington Free Beacon, “Irrevocably Shaken”: Columbia Law Review Editors Demand Cancellation Of Exams Due To Campus Protests (May 4, 2024)
• Washington Free Beacon, 13 Federal Judges Will Not Hire Law Clerks From Columbia: An ‘Incubator Of Bigotry’ (May 7, 2024)
• Reuters, Columbia Law Dean Voices Confidence In Graduates In Face Of Conservative Judges' Boycott (May 8, 2024)
• Michael Simkovic (USC), Columbia Law Professor Says Columbia University Violated Federal Laws, Fostered A ‘Hostile Environment’ On Campus (May 11, 2024)
• Wall Street Journal, Civil Rights And Antisemitism At Columbia (May 28, 2024)
• The Intercept, Columbia Law Review Refused To Take Down Article On Palestine, So Board Of Directors Took Down Its Website (June 4, 2024)
• New York Times, More On The Columbia Law Review Controversy (June 6, 2024)
• The Intercept, Student Editors Vote 20-5 To Reject Board's Offer To Bring Columbia Law Review Back Online (June 7, 2024)
• David Bernstein (George Mason), Paul Horwitz (Alabama) & Steve Lubet (Northwestern), Reflections On The Columbia Law Review Imbroglio (June 10, 2024)
• National Law Journal, NYC Bar Association Blasts Federal Judges' Columbia Boycott Letter (June 18, 2024)
• City Journal, Columbia Smuggles Activism Into The Law (June 19, 2024)

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