Federal Judges Say They Won’t Hire Clerks From Stanford Law School

Circuit court judges James Ho and Elizabeth Branch have declared that they will no longer be hiring clerks from Stanford Law School. This announcement serves as a continuation of the boycott that the judges started last year with respect to Yale Law School.

In a speech to the Texas Review of Law and Politics, Ho announced that “We will not hire any student who chooses to attend Stanford Law School in the future.” He stated that his boycott is aimed at holding Stanford accountable for its treatment of Kyle Duncan, an appellate judge on the Fifth Circuit, who was shouted down by students and berated by a Stanford diversity dean.

Ho argues that these incidents are indicative of rampant viewpoint discrimination at some of the most elite law schools, as they do not employ even a single center-right professor. The judge maintains that until such schools show more intellectual diversity in their faculty and administration, he will continue to boycott students from such schools.

Ho and Branch are among 14 federal judges boycotting Yale Law School over several high-profile free speech scandals. It seems that their boycott is having an effect; students and faculty at Yale have urged Ho not to let up, citing an improved campus climate. He is hopeful that this success will persuade his colleagues to stop hiring from Stanford as well, thereby helping to eliminate discrimination at law schools altogether.

If every judge who decries discrimination at Yale and Stanford follows in their footsteps, Ho believes it won’t be long before these schools put a stop to discriminatory practices. Read Ho’s full remarks here.