Justice Alito slams colleges and law schools for failing to protect free speech
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito slammed colleges and law schools for failing to protect free speech.
The remarks were made during an interview with The Heritage Foundation, where Justice Alito characterized the current state of free speech on such campuses as 'disgraceful.'
On Oct. 25, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito slammed colleges and law schools for failing to protect free speech.
The remarks were made during an interview with The Heritage Foundation, where Justice Alito characterized the current state of free speech on such campuses as “disgraceful.”
“Based on what I have read and what has been told to me by students, it’s pretty abysmal, and it’s disgraceful, and it’s really dangerous for our future as a united democratic country,” said the conservative Justice.
Dominic Giambona, a law student at Drivon School of Law in Stockton, California, told Campus Reform that while his school encourages free speech, he has witnessed other schools fail to do so.
“[D]uring my time in undergraduate at CSU Sacramento I had many occasions where I, my friends, or my classmates would be shut down for our speech being seen as offensive when we were saying factually true statements,” said Giambona.
Justice Alito went on to describe the fundamental responsibility colleges, and particularly law schools, have in encouraging free speech.
“We depend on freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is essential,” said Alito. “Colleges and universities should be setting the example. And law schools should be setting the example for the university, because our adversary system is based on the principle that the best way to get at the truth is to have a strong presentation of opposing views.”
“Law students should be free to speak their minds without worrying about the consequences, and they should have their ideas tested in rational debate, and if law schools are not doing that,” suggested Alito, “then they are really not carrying out their responsibility.”
“On a broader basis I entirely agree with Justice Alito,” said Giambona. “As we have seen especially in the last five to six years college campuses have actively and proudly sought to silence non-Progressive voices.”
Giambona has seen similar actions from some of the nation’s most prestigious law schools.
[RELATED: Federal judges agrees to speak at Yale following boycott]
“[W] have seen the upper echelon of law schools like UC Berkeley and Harvard take openly antisemitic or racist action in the name of Progressivism and in turn sought to silence any speech that goes against their political views,” he said.
“We saw Justice Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings refuse to simply state what a woman is,” Giambona continued. “Is this not representative of a broader issue with our nation’s legal community being influenced more and more by the onslaught of Progressive politics?”
In September, Trump-appointed U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho called for the boycott of Yale Law School, claiming the school “not only tolerates the cancellation of views — it actively practices it.”
According to The Hill, Ho cited “two notorious incidents in which Yale students faced no disciplinary action for disrupting presentations by conservatives.”
Ho would no longer hire clerks from Yale Law and called for other judges to follow suit, with many complying.
“I don’t want to cancel Yale,” said Judge Ho. “I want Yale to stop canceling people like me.”
Ho’s stated intention was “to pressure Yale into changing its disciplinary practices, becoming more welcoming to conservatives,” The Hill reported.
Yale Law School and The Heritage Foundation were contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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