A federal judge has pledged to not hire law students as clerks if they have signed onto public statements justifying recent terror attacks by Hamas as Palestinian resistance against Israeli oppression.
He was referring to a letter penned by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and signed by dozens of other student organizations. It has drawn intense backlash over the past week, following the deadly attacks Hamas unleashed on Israeli towns near Gaza, for declaring that Israel is “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
Signing a statement like this is as bad as associating oneself with hate groups or condoning their actions, the judge argued.
“Reasonable judges may reasonably look for vastly different qualities and attitudes in their law clerks,” he wrote. “But no federal judge I know would hire a card-carrying member of some wacky white supremacist group or even someone that is on record as remotely supporting or even sympathizing with such a group’s activities.”
“I refuse to credential anyone who supports or even remotely sympathizes with terror in the form of a modern day pogrom,” he continued, claiming to have seen evidence of student groups endorsing or sympathizing with “Nazi-like horrors in Israel.”
“If you sign on to a letter that, in essence, supports the actions of Hamas, you’re out as far as I’m concerned,” he told the outlet. “And if you don’t agree with what the organization said, then in this case, resign.”
A Jew himself, Mr. Solomon was appointed to the federal claims court in 2020 by President Donald Trump. The court consists of sixteen judges nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a term of fifteen years.
In a followup post, Mr. Solomon said his stance on the issue was very well received by other jurists.
Harvard President: We Don’t Punish Students for Outrageous Views
Meanwhile, Harvard President Claudine Gay, who took office in July, has issued a video statement pushing back on attempts to name students who signed the controversial letter.“We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views, but that is a far cry from endorsing them,” she said, admitting that many did find the views expressed in the letter “objectionable, even outrageous.”
“We can fan the flames of division and hatred that are roiling the world,” Ms. Gay said in the clip. “Or we can try to be a force for something different and better.”
Such response has reportedly caused disappointment among some of Harvard’s alumni and wealthy donors, and has cost the university its 34-year, multi-million-dollar partnership with the Wexner Foundation.
“We are stunned and sickened at the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists last Saturday, the Sabbath and a festival day,” the foundation wrote in a letter to the Board of Overseers, Harvard’s second-highest governing body.
“In the absence of this clear moral stand, we have determined that the Harvard Kennedy School and the Wexner Foundation are no longer compatible partners,” the letter read.
Trump Judges: No Jobs for Intolerant Law Students
Mr. Solomon’s announcement is similar to the one made earlier this year by Judges James Ho of the 5th Circuit and Elizabeth Branch of the 11th Circuit, who urged potential employers to not hire from law schools that are “failing in their basic mission” to teach students to be good citizens.Pointing to the high-profile incidents of progressive law students at Yale and Stanford Universities screaming at and shouting down speakers they didn’t agree with, the circuit judges said those institutions were breeding a culture of intolerance.
“If schools are unwilling to impose consequences themselves, at a minimum they should identify the disrupters so that future employers know who they are hiring,” they argued.
