A federal judge is refusing to hire law students as clerks if they’ve signed onto letters that he says effectively amount to support for Hamas‘s deadly assault on Israel.
Judge Matthew Solomson of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims made his vow in an Oct. 11 LinkedIn post, saying his decision is moral, not political. His remarks come in response to student groups across the country, including George Washington University, Yale University, Harvard, and Columbia University, that have released statements and held protests in support of Palestinians.
ISRAEL WAR: NEARLY 200 PEOPLE HELD HOSTAGE BY TERRORIST GROUPS IN GAZA
“I’ve seen credible reports (and some evidence) from current law students and recent graduates regarding various student groups that have issued statements either celebrating or endorsing or sympathizing with what can only be described as Nazi-like horrors in Israel,” he wrote in the post. “If my position on what is disqualifying filters out would-be applicants to my chambers, all the better. In any event, I hope my Federal judicial colleagues will agree (whether in public or private), but either way I’m OK being out on my own on this one.”
More than 4,000 Israeli and Palestinian people combined have died since Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel on Oct. 7.
Solomson was appointed by former President Donald Trump and confirmed in January 2020. His decision to blacklist potential applicants who signed letters suggesting Israel should somehow take the blame for the initial attack comes as several business entities on Wall Street have taken similar maneuvers in recent days.
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The judge’s move is similar to actions taken by a popular conservative jurist on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, James Ho, who earlier this year said employers should be alerted to Stanford Law School students who sought to disrupt his colleague Judge Kyle Duncan’s lecture. Ho garnered attention in 2022 for boycotting clerk applicants from Yale, saying the school tolerates “cancel culture,” particularly against conservatives.
The Washington Examiner contacted the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for a response.
