Ted Littleford
New revelations about Brett Kavanaugh’s time at Yale as well as his conduct as a judge have mobilized law students at his alma mater to organize protests here in New Haven and in D.C. Monday against his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Following is the text of an email circulated Friday about all that sent by student organizers:
Yesterday many members of the YLS community gathered to discuss the sexual assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh and the role of the #MeToo movement in the confirmation process and in our very own community. Following the news of the complicity of YLS faculty members in perpetuating a culture of sexism and discrimination on our campus and throughout the legal profession, this conversation presented a timely opportunity for the faculty of this law school to demonstrate courage and integrity and to stand with students during this confusing time. Instead, many students left feeling alienated, disillusioned, and frustrated with the ambivalence and moral abdication of this institution, its faculty, and its administration.
The coming days are an opportunity for each of us to reflect on this critical moment, our roles in it, and the climate in our community. We want to acknowledge that our entire school’s culture of legal elitism and fixation on proximity to power, particularly in the context of clerkship hiring, facilitates abusive and exploitative practices of judges and professors alike. As a part of this community, we are all responsible for perpetuating this culture, and hope that this will be a moment of reckoning for all of us.
Dozens of student leaders have spent the last 24 hours discussing how to translate our values into concrete action. Here is where we plan to begin.
On Monday, we will protest Judge Kavanaugh’s possible appointment to the Supreme Court, both in D.C. and with a sit-in at YLS.
On Tuesday, we will turn to discuss issues internal to YLS and the health and safety of our students. More details on the Tuesday action will be forthcoming.
We invite you to join us.
Monday, September 24, 2018
Option 1: Protest the Kavanaugh nomination in Washington, DC: A large contingent of YLS students will be going to Washington, DC to protest the Kavanaugh nomination, including the Senate Judiciary Committee’s disgraceful attempt to silence Dr. Blasey Ford. Sign up as a passenger or driver (here). You can learn more about the action (here). Please sign up on the spreadsheet to coordinate rides. If there is enough demand from students and a lack of cars, we will work to coordinate rental cars for students.
Option 2: YLS Protest: For those who cannot make it to DC on Monday, there will be a sit-in at Yale Law School starting at 9:30 AM. We will wear all black to protest both the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh, this school’s implicit endorsement of him, and our administration’s complicity in widespread sexual harassment in the legal profession.
A Call to Our Faculty
Copied on this email is every professor that has a class this coming Monday. Professors, we ask you to stand in solidarity with your students by cancelling classes on Monday. We welcome you to affirm your support by replying to this email to confirm publicly that you will cancel your class. Given both the national news of the last weeks and the campus related news of the last few days, this is a defining moment for this community.
We also ask that you join your colleagues in signing this letter calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to conduct a confirmation process that is fair, deliberate, and imperative given the power inherent in a Supreme Court appointment.
As the students and faculty of this school, it is our responsibility to work for a YLS deserving of the reputation it holds.
In Solidarity,
YLS Student Leaders
One of the first things they teach in law schools and one of the first articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and an International Human Right is a concept embodied the in the words "Innocent until proven guilty".
The authors seem to be discarding years of legal precedents and protections in their eagerness to forward a political agenda. Perhaps some introspection as to why they find it necessary to create a conviction in a court of public opinion instead of based on facts would be helpful. I certainly hope for everyone's sake that these are not actual member of YLS, who should know better.
I would also direct these concerned to focus also on Keith Ellison, former DNC deputy chairman, longtime Congressman and candidate for Minnesota attorney general who is being accused of abuse by his ex-girlfriend or admit their hypocrisy.