After 5th Circuit judge boycotts Yale Law School grads, his conservative colleague hangs out welcome sign
Yale Law School. Photo from Shutterstock.
U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith is encouraging Yale Law School graduates to apply for his clerkships after his colleague announced that he won’t be hiring any of them.
Smith is a member of the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals at New Orleans, as is the judge who is boycotting Yale Law grads, Circuit Judge James C. Ho. Both are conservative. And Ho once clerked for Smith, How Appealing notes in an “irony alert.”
Ho announced at a chapter meeting of the Federalist Society on Sept. 29 that he will no longer hire law clerks from Yale Law because the university “tolerates” and “actively practices” the cancellation of conservative views. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, according to a bio from the Federalist Society.
Smith called that decision “regrettable” in a post on the OSCAR online system for clerkship applications, although he didn’t refer to Ho by name, according to Reuters, which quoted from Smith’s post.
“I regularly (and recently) have had Yale clerks who, consistently, are extremely talented and performed spectacularly in upholding the rule of law and supporting toleration for diverse viewpoints,” Smith wrote. “Instead of boycotting, I hope to receive even more Yale applications from qualified men and women, not only this year but in future years.”
