Columbia Law grads lost commencement. And clerkships, as judges boycott alums.
The head of Columbia Law School backed its graduates on May 7, saying they were 鈥渃onsistently sought out鈥� as it responded to an announcement by 13 conservative federal judges that they would聽not hire聽students from the Ivy League university.
The judges announced the boycott on May 6, citing the university鈥檚 handling of pro-Palestinian聽protests聽and calling the Manhattan campus an 鈥渋ncubator of bigotry鈥� in a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester.
Ms. Lester said in a statement on May 7 that Columbia Law graduates were 鈥渃onsistently sought out by leading employers in the private and public sectors, including the judiciary.鈥�
The lead signatories on the letter dated May 6, who were all appointees of Republican former President Donald Trump, included U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Elizabeth Branch of the 11th Circuit, who previously urged judges to similarly boycott hiring clerks from Yale and Stanford following disruptions of events at those law schools with conservative speakers.
But figures suggest the boycott will have limited real world impact.
Columbia Law School is not a major feeder into federal clerkships, with the聽vast majority of its graduates聽going into associate jobs at large law firms. Just 21 of the Manhattan law school鈥檚 427 juris doctor graduates in 2023 went into federal clerkships 鈥撀燼bout 5% 鈥撀燼ccording to the latest employment data from the American Bar Association.
By contrast, the University of Chicago Law School, Yale Law School, and Stanford Law School each sent聽20% or more聽of their 2023 graduates into federal clerkships. Columbia was 39th out of 195 U.S. law schools for the percentage of the graduating class that went into federal clerkships.
A law school spokesperson did not provide comment on May 7 on whether any of the 13 boycotting judges had ever hired a Columbia Law grad as a federal clerk.
Federal judges hire two or three law grads annually for year-long clerkships that can lead to prestigious and high-paying legal jobs. Fewer than 4% of law graduates nationwide get those jobs, the ABA data show.
鈥淣o reason to punish them鈥�
There was little sign of the boycott gathering significant steam on May 7.
U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, a colleague of Mr. Ho鈥檚 on the 5th Circuit appointed by Republican former President Ronald Reagan, noted that so far only two of the approximately 170 active federal appeals court judges had announced plans to join the boycott.
鈥淚 have had many outstanding law clerks from Columbia,鈥� Mr. Smith said. 鈥淚 do not boycott any law school or its students.鈥�
Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane of the Southern District of Texas said he would not hire a student who participated in 鈥渁ntisemitic or pro-Hamas protests鈥� but that he would also not support a blanket boycott of the school.
鈥淪ome of those law students are likely Jewish and have been the subject of threats and harassment,鈥� said Mr. Crane, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. 鈥淚 see no reason to punish them.鈥�
However, U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky, a Donald Trump appointee in Little Rock, Arkansas, who recently traveled with a group of U.S. judges to Israel, said in an email on May 7 that he was considering joining the Columbia boycott.
Judges need to 鈥渟tep up to the plate as leaders of the bar to help stop the spread of the virulent Jew hatred that is being normalized on college campuses and elsewhere across the country,鈥� Mr. Rudofsky said.
Retired federal judge Jeremy Fogel, who heads the Berkeley Judicial Institute at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law said on May 7 that federal judges have 鈥渨ide latitude鈥� in clerk hiring and that the judges鈥� boycott letter does not violate their code of conduct.
鈥淭hat said, reasonable minds may differ as to whether statements of this nature are consistent with the dignity of the judges鈥� office and the obligation of judges to be impartial,鈥� Mr. Fogel said.
This story was reported by Reuters.
