U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James C. Ho took aim at Yale Law School during a keynote address at the Kentucky Chapters Conference of the Federalist Society titled “Agreeing to Disagree — Restoring America by Resisting Cancel Culture” on Thursday.
Citing the cancel culture that runs rampant at the Ivy League school, he told listeners he will no longer hire clerks from Yale and encouraged other judges to follow his lead.
“Starting today, I will no longer hire law clerks from Yale Law School. And I hope that other judges will join me as well,” Ho declared, according to prepared remarks obtained by the National Review. “If they want the closed and intolerant environment that Yale embraces today, that’s their call. But I want nothing to do with it.”
“Yale not only tolerates the cancellation of views — it actively practices it,” he said.
NEW: The Fifth Circuit’s James Ho says he’s no longer hiring clerks from Yale Law—and urges other judges to join him.
“If they want the closed and intolerant environment that Yale embraces today, that’s their call,” Ho said. “I want nothing to do with it.”https://t.co/q4OLS4TzJc
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) September 29, 2022
He acknowledged that cancel culture is a problem at law schools throughout America, but noted that “cancellations and disruptions seem to occur with special frequency” at Yale. Ho provided several examples.
The most widely reported incident he discussed occurred during a March panel discussion. The event, hosted by the Yale Federalist Society, “was disrupted by loud angry law students in the classroom,” Ho explained. The panelists, “Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom and Monica Miller of the American Humanist Association,” were shouted down by the students. The situation “became so intense” that police officers at the event “had to call for backup” to “escort the panelists out of the building and into a squad car.” Ho added that the associate dean, who “was present throughout the entire event, … did nothing.”
“It turns out that, when elite law schools like Yale teach their students that there are no consequences to their intolerance and illiberalism, the message sticks with them,” Ho said.
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Ho continued, “All too often, law schools appear to be run by the mob — whether out of sympathy or spinelessness. Colleges aren’t teaching students how to agree to disagree. They’re teaching students how to destroy. And then they’re launching them into the world.”
Ho believes that “our whole country has now become a campus.” He argued, “Cancel culture now plagues a wide variety of institutions. I’ve written judicial opinions noting how cancel culture has infected our educational institutions, the legal profession, corporate America, and public health — and how even the criminal justice system has been weaponized to cancel disfavored political viewpoints. Cancel culture is also deeply embedded in journalism, entertainment, sports, and the arts.
“The consequences for America are significant. I would contend that cancel culture is one of the leading reasons why citizens no longer trust a wide variety of once-leading institutions. It turns out that, when elite institutions make clear that people who think like you and me shouldn’t even exist, we return the favor.”
Among the examples of cancel culture outside of Yale, he cited the suspension of Georgetown Law professor Ilya Shapiro in January over tweets about President Joe Biden’s decision to choose a nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer based on race and gender.
Ho said that we need “to speak out against cancel culture as citizens. We can stand up for free speech, for open and rigorous debate, and for tolerance of opposing viewpoints.” But he argued that we need to go further.
“We’re not just citizens. We’re also customers. Customers can boycott entities that practice cancel culture. … I wonder how a law school would feel, if my fellow federal judges and I stopped being its customers. Instead of millions of customers, there are only 179 authorized federal circuit judgeships, and 677 authorized federal district judgeships.”
Concluding his remarks, he said, “Yale presents itself as the best, most elite institution of legal education. Yet it’s the worst when it comes to legal cancellation.”
Yet it “sets the tone for other law schools, and for the legal profession at large. I certainly reserve the right to add other schools in the future. But my sincere hope is that I won’t have to. My sincere hope is that, if nothing else, my colleagues and I will at least send the message that other schools should not follow in Yale’s footsteps.”
Ho’s message is essentially: It’s time for Americans to cancel those who embrace the cancel culture that is destroying the country. His message is simple, but powerful.
Ordinary Americans have allowed themselves to be intimidated into silence by the woke mob that has taken over our culture, never realizing that we have the power to reject it.
We must remember this is coming from a group that tells us that men can get pregnant, that we must empty our prisons, and that children should be allowed to make life-altering decisions about their gender.
Yesterday, I received a message from a middle school parent. Her children informed her of a new gender called “furries.” She wrote: “Furries go to school acting like cats or dogs. They literally meow or woof and their teachers have to treat them like animals. They have their own litter box in the bathroom and everything.”
Imagine how middle school kids would have dealt with a “furry” 15 or 20 years ago.
All of this is, of course, absurd.
But if each one of us pushes back against this madness in whatever way we can, the insanity will end. If we continue to mollify the woke, it will gain strength.
It’s time to take our country back.
