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Conservative and libertarian law professors demand more politically balanced faculties

February 28, 2017

Law schools are notoriously one-sided when it comes to the political leanings of their faculty, and conservative and libertarian academics are tiredof seeking change behind the scenes.

More than two dozen law professors, many familiar to College Fix readers, sent an open letter to the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools.

It lays bare their grievances against AALSs failure to take concrete preliminary steps to promote viewpoint diversity among law faculties, in the words of the professor who shared it, libertarian luminary Randy Barnett of Georgetown.

Drafted by Case Western Reserve Law Prof. George Dent, who has led a yearslong effort in the association to promote diversity beyond skin color and sex, the letter says conservatives and libertarians are grossly underrepresented on law faculties:

For several years now a number of legal scholars have asked the AALS to support the commitment to viewpoint diversity stated in its by-laws.

While the new executive director seems also to take us seriously, and this years AALS annual meeting seemed to have better balanced panels, the association refuses to go further, the letter says.

At last years annual meeting, several professors met with the executive committee to ask for creation of a Political Diversity Task Force; for viewpoint diversity to be made a regular element of the sabbatical reviews for member schools; and for access to the associations Faculty Appointments Register, to help them track viewpoint diversity in hiring.

Its been a year since AALSsaid it would create subcommittees to examinethese requests, and nothing has happened, says the letter:

We fear that the Executive Committee does not take our concerns seriously and intends to take no action to address them. Both scholarship and teaching suffer when law schools are echo chambers in which only one side of current debates is given a voice.

The signatories include Case Western Reserves Jonathan Adler, University of San Diegos Gail Heriot (a potential Trump administration pick), George Masons Ilya Somin and UCLAs Eugene Volokh.

Read the letter.

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Conservative and libertarian law professors demand more politically balanced faculties - The College Fix

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New York Times

Republicans in Washington Are in Control, but Not in Agreement New York Times Vice President Mike Pence and the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, during President Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday. Republicans hold Congress and the White House for the first time since 2006. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times. Trump Backs Health Tax Credits That Have Split RepublicansBloomberg Republicans fight over what Trump meant on ObamacarePolitico In Trump's address to Congress, Republicans seek clarityPBS NewsHour Reuters -Townhall -CNN -Pew Research Center all 930 news articles »

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Republicans in Washington Are in Control, but Not in Agreement - New York Times

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump didnt insult any war heroes. He didnt pitch conspiracy theories about millions of illegal votes. He didnt call the news media the enemies of the American people.

For Republicans nervously watching the new president for signs of calm leadership, that was the good news, as Trump stuck to his teleprompter for nearly all of his 5,000-word, hourlong address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, the first of his term.

I am asking all citizens to embrace this renewal of the American spirit, Trump read, using language almost any president of either party might have used. I am asking all members of Congress to join me in dreaming big, and bold and daring things for our country.

Now for the bad news: Trump provided no details on how a promised replacement of the Affordable Care Act would work; how, precisely, tax reform would be structured or paid for; or even the functioning of his trillion-dollar infrastructure plan.

And all of thats before Trump has had the chance to return to Twitter, as he is wont to do, where hes not reading off a prepared script and can say what he really feels.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) blasted out praise immediately after Trump had glad-handed his way out the House chamber, calling the speech a home run and thanking Trump for taking the lead on repealing Obamacare and reforming the tax code, long a priority for the congressman.

Reuters/Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool

I want to thank President Trump for putting us on a path to a better future, Ryan said in the statement.

Ryan, though, may come to rethink that enthusiasm in the coming weeks and months.

Because Trump in many ways boxed in his Capitol Hill party mates even as he provided scant details on what should be done.

On health care, for example, Trump called for a replacement of the Affordable Care Act that would expand choice, increase access, lower costs and at the same time provide better health care an impossible combination.

His new plan, he said, would continue to insure those with preexisting conditions and use tax credits and health savings accounts to help Americans pay for them. How big would the tax credits be, and who would be eligible? Trump didnt say, but he did promise: The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we will do.

On tax reform, Trump voiced continued support for lower rates on both corporations and individuals an idea that Republicans leaders like Ryan can easily support. It will be a big, big, cut, Trump promised. But then Trump added his support for including a feature to tax imports and subsidize exports, an idea that Ryan is backing, but its already seeing powerful opponents in the business community and the Senate lining up.

On his much touted, trillion-dollar plan to rebuild roads, bridges and tunnels, Trump dispensed with it in 56 words. The only details offered were that it would include both public and private capital, and would create millions of new jobs.

As for a compromise on immigration reform with a pathway to at least legalization for undocumented immigrants as Trump earlier Tuesday had suggested he could support there was not a word, making it easy for Democrats to conclude there was no reason to work with Trump at all.

Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved, Trump said. Democrats and Republicans should get together and unite for the good of our country and for the good of the American people.

Trump probably should not be surprised if the reality of making that happen is a good deal harder than reading words off of his teleprompter.

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New York Times

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