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A D.C. appellate judge urged his colleagues to consider barring Yale Law students who shout down speakers on campus from getting clerkships, in an email sent to fellow judges and published by lawyer David Lat on his Substack.
A group of student “protesters” attempted to shout down speakers during a panel at Yale Law School on the topic of free speech.
According to reporting by The Washington Free Beacon:
The March 10 panel, which was hosted by the Yale Federalist Society, featured Monica Miller of the progressive American Humanist Association and Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative nonprofit that promotes religious liberty. Both groups had taken the same side in a 2021 Supreme Court case involving legal remedies for First Amendment violations. The purpose of the panel, a member of the Federalist Society said, was to illustrate that a liberal atheist and a conservative Christian could find common ground on free speech issues…
When a professor at the law school, Kate Stith, began to introduce Waggoner, the protesters, who outnumbered the audience members, rose in unison, holding signs that attacked ADF. The nonprofit has argued—and won—several Supreme Court cases establishing religious exemptions from civil rights laws, most famously Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission in 2018.
As they stood up, the protesters began to antagonize members of the Federalist Society, forcing Stith to pause her remarks. One protester told a member of the conservative group she would “literally fight you, bitch,” according to audio and video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The Washington Free Beacon released a 2 minute video (below) showing the Yale law professor, Kate Stith, reminding the so-called protesters of the school’s commitment to free speech and telling them to “grow up.”
Of course, that brought about a big reaction from the demonstrators. But Stith refused to back down, warning the students that if the disruption continued she would ask them to leave or “help you leave.” She then told them they could wait quietly in the hallway or they could sit down and listen to the speakers.
The students did leave the room but once gathered in the hallway the Washington Free Beacon reports that they soon “began to stomp, shout, clap, sing, and pound the walls.” The noise created a disturbance for other students in the same building, and when the event was over the participants had a difficult time leaving because the protesters were crowded into the only exit.
Responding to the outrageous actions of the so-called protesters, Kristen Waggoner, the ADF attorney told the Washington Free Beacon: “We must change course and restore a culture of free speech and civil discourse at Yale and other law schools, or the future of the legal profession in America is in dire straits.”
But Waggoner wasn’t the only person that responded to the incident. Apparently at least one judge agrees that these students, who are allegedly the top law students in the country, have crossed a line.
D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman sent an email to every federal judge in the country suggesting that students involved in the Yale protest might not be suitable candidates for clerkships.
In the email, Judge Silberman wrote:
The latest events at Yale Law School, in which students attempted to shout down speakers participating in a panel discussion on free speech, prompt me to suggest that students who are identified as those willing to disrupt any such panel discussion should be noted. All federal judges—and all federal judges are presumably committed to free speech—should carefully consider whether any student so identified should be disqualified from potential clerkships.
Several other judges responded to Judge Silberman in an email chain.
“Thank you for your email. I couldn’t agree more,” said Judge John Walker of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Slate.
WATCH:
Source: Hot Air
