Conservative federal appeals judge: Don’t give money for law schools unless the teach originalism
Law Schools
Don’t give money to law schools unless they teach originalism, conservative federal appeals judge says
October 29, 2024, 12:17 pm CDT
Judge Amul Thapar of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. (Photo by Kyblueimages, CC-Zero, via Wikimedia Commons)
“Anti-originalist” law professors dominate law schools, and they aren’t equipping students with the practical knowledge that they need to make originalist arguments, a conservative federal appeals judge said last week in a lecture hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Judge Amul Thapar of the 6th U.S. Bloomberg Law, Law360, and Reuters reported that the Cincinnati Circuit Court of Appeals said conservatives can spur change by refusing to donate to the schools. How Appealing links to the video.
Taxpayers can also play a role by demanding that publicly funded law schools stop “pursuing their own political agendas,” Thapar said, according to Reuters.
Bloomberg Law and Law360 highlighted this remark: “Make no mistake: Money talks. Only when the taxpayers and donors alike demand it will law schools start to change.”
Originalist judges interpret the Constitution based on its meaning as understood at the time it was written. Thapar, a former president Donald Trump appointee, was on Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court list.
