House Republicans Ask American Bar Association To Investigate Stanford Law School Over Duncan Disruption
House Republicans have asked the American Bar Association to investigate Stanford Law School following the disruption of Judge Kyle Duncan of the Fifth Circuit, stating that the law school is in violation of accreditation standards that call for the promotion of free speech. Stanford allowed and even encouraged students to shout down Judge Duncan last month, House Committee on Education and the Workforce said in a letter to the bar association. The letter emphasised remarks made by Tirien Steinbach, the law school diversity dean who berated the judge and took the podium from him for causing “harm”. Accreditation by the American Bar Association is required for law schools to receive federal funds. An investigation into Stanford’s accreditation could threaten the school’s finances, thereby putting pressure on it to sanction the disruptors.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R.-N.C.), chairwoman of the committee, said, “With our letter comes accountability. We will not rest until we help restore the true intent and purpose of higher education.”
The American Bar Association stipulates that every accredited law school must have a policy that promotes academic freedom. Stanford’s policy, as per its faculty handbook, says that “the widest range of viewpoints” should be free from “coercion”, a condition that the letter claims no longer exists at the law school. The letter reads, “In no sense can it be said that Stanford Law School adhered to its announced encouragement of the ‘widest range of viewpoints’, and in no sense were Judge Duncan’s viewpoints ‘free from … internal or external coercion’.” It adds that having a policy “implies that the law school follows its policy.” Stanford did not respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Burgess Owens (R.-Utah), the chairman of the higher education subcommittee, co-signed the letter.
Steinbach is currently on leave, while Stanford has declined to discipline the students responsible for disrupting Judge Duncan, stating that doing so would be unfair given the “conflicting signals” they received. The decision has compounded the law school’s PR problem, prompting law professor John Banzhaf of George Washington University to prepare to file a bar complaint against the disruptors.
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