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Some Yale Law Profs Hesitant to Write Recommendations for Kavanaugh Clerkships

Some Yale Law Profs Hesitant to Write Recommendations for Kavanaugh Clerkships

“might depend on the circumstances”

Can you imagine denying a student an amazing opportunity over your own petty politics? Amazing.

The College Fix reports:

Some Yale law profs unsure about letters of recommendation for Kavanaugh clerkships

In a scene similar to that of the University of Michigan professor who refused to write a letter of recommendation for a student studying abroad in Israel, some law professors at Yale are “expressing reluctance” at doing the same for students seeking clerkships under new US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

For example, Lea Brilmayer, one of 33 Yale professors who signed an anti-Kavanaugh op-ed in the New York Times on October 3, said she’d likely not write such a recommendation … but it “might depend on the circumstances.”

Brilmayer added that her students were unlikely to apply for Kavanaugh clerkships anyway, and noted a recommendation from her, given that she was a signatory on the Times letter, probably wouldn’t be helpful.

The Yale Daily News reports on the feelings of other professors:

In a piece in the Wednesday edition of the News, prominent constitutional law professor Akhil Amar ’80 LAW ’84 pledged not to write recommendation letters for students applying to clerk for Kavanaugh for the next three years in attempts to skirt accusations against him of “elite cronyism or back-scratching.”

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Comments

Somewhat Confused | October 14, 2018 at 1:17 pm

I’m curious who would want a recommendation from “law” school professors who have forgotten the concepts of Due Process and Innocent until Proven Guilty. Seems to me such people should be restricted to teaching Grievance Studies at a smaller high school.

That might be a good idea on the part of those “law” professors. If I were doing the screening I would have a look at the name of the professor and if he had signed that anti-Kavanaugh op-ed then I would assume that he had ZERO knowledge of or respect for the law and that any student he might recommend would necessarily follow in the same vein and be completely undeserving of the highest honor a law student can achieve – a clerkship at the highest court in the land.

For that matter, I think that under the circumstances I would simply consider Yale “law” School to be completely out of line and wouldn’t accept any applications from anyone sporting a degree from Yale “law.”

Hey Yale, welcome to the free market. If you aren’t viewed as a viable stepping stone, people will choose to go elsewhere. It may take awhile, but if you lose 5% of the better students each year because of stances like these, well, maybe we will get back to you in 10 years to see how that worked out.

I have a crazy idea, I mean just like way out there. How about instead of trying to make political statements you just do your damn job!

Any, Law Professor that would deny their students who deserve it a chance to intern with a Justice should be fired immediately.