On Monday, August 5, 2024, Law.com reported that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council upheld the dismissal of an ethics complaint against federal judges who signed a letter pledging not to hire law clerks from Columbia University.

The complaint was filed by a Texas prisoner and named Judges James Ho of the Fifth Circuit; U.S. District Judges Alan Albright and David Counts of the Western District of Texas; U.S. District Judges James W. Hendrix, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk and Brantley Starr of the Northern District of Texas; U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas; and U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton of the Southern District of Texas. It also implicated Elizabeth Branch of the Eleventh Circuit; Matthew H. Solomson of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims; U.S. District Judge Tilman E. Self III of the Middle District of Georgia; U.S. District Judge Daniel M. Traynor of the District of North Dakota; and Stephen Alexander Vaden of the U.S. Court of International Trade.

The complaint alleged that the judges’ letter indicated they would discriminate against those with differing views on the Israel-Gaza conflict. It also claimed the judges would be biased against members of the Columbia community who come before their courts. However, Chief Fifth Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman dismissed the complaint in June, finding that the judges were exercising their discretion in clerk hiring and that their boycott was aimed at the university’s failure to foster ideological diversity, not any political views.

The Judicial Council, led by Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Elrod, agreed with Judge Richman and upheld the dismissal in a brief August order. In her ruling, Judge Richman explained that the 13 judges who signed the letter were expressing disapproval of disruptive protests at Columbia and the university’s response, which they viewed as lacking diversity of thought. While reasonable people may disagree with the judges’ approach, Judge Richman maintained they had not committed misconduct.

The letter in question was sent in May to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik and was signed by eight federal district court judges and five appellate judges, all appointed by former President Donald Trump. It criticized Columbia for becoming “ground zero” for campus disruptions, anti-Semitism, and intolerance of differing opinions. As a result, the judges pledged not to hire any Columbia students, either at the undergraduate or law level, beginning with the class of 2024.

At the same time as this ethics complaint was pending, the Judicial Conference of the United States was also exploring whether additional clarification of ethical hiring practices for judges was needed. This underscores the recognition that clerk hiring remains a complex issue with reasonable disagreements over where to strike the appropriate balance. For now, though, the federal judiciary appears poised to leave these hiring decisions in the hands of individual courts.

 

 

Source: Law.com