Hundreds Of Harvard Law Alums Push Dean & Institution To Denounce Trump Administration’s Revenge Streak

Last week, over 80 Harvard Law professors called out the Trump administration’s vendetta against Biglaw firms for violating the 6th Amendment and disregarding the rule of law. The recent crackdowns on dissent have also chilled the speech of international students. Imagine the horror of getting cold called in a contracts or property class and making the argument that the widespread use and enforcement of racial covenants shows that there were periods of American history that maintained white superiority and property rights by enacting racism structurally. If that’s enough grounds for Trump to sign an executive order attacking the Smithsonian, that’s definitely enough to get you deported! In times like these, it helps to know that your professors acknowledge and are willing to speak out against what you’re going through. It’s even better to know that your alumni network is doing the same. The Crimson has coverage:

More than 300 Harvard Law School alumni signed a letter asking Dean John C.P. Goldberg to speak out against the Trump administration’s efforts to penalize law firms for representing the president’s political adversaries in recent weeks.

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“We believe Harvard Law School as an institution must raise its voice in support of these principles and in denouncing the Executive Orders,” the letter reads.

Alumni aren’t the only ones stressing the importance of institutional response to the Trump administration. In a recent talk at Georgetown, Justice Sonia Sotomayor opined that law schools have a role to play in preventing the erosion of norms that the rule of law relies on. Harvard Law as an institution should have a very clear interest in doing what it can to prevent what will come if everyone takes the Skadden route: a genuine fear that not pledging fealty to the man in charge could mean financial or personal ruin.

There’s a colorable argument that Goldberg speaking out could motivate Trump to set his sights on Harvard, but the majority of the law school faculty already circulated a letter condemning the administration’s retaliation tactics — whatever is going to hit the fan is going to hit it. And while there probably should be a bias toward maintaining institutional neutrality under normal circumstances, these are not normal circumstances. Dissent matters. It lets people know that they aren’t alone and galvanizes them to action. Whether it’s Perkins Coie or Georgetown, each institution that takes a stand emboldens others, just by virtue of being able to see people refuse to be bullied toward a new non-democratic normal.

The students, professors, and alumni are waiting, Dean Goldberg. If the rule of law is worth fighting for (it is), you and other law school deans should be publicly advocating for it.

300 Alums Call on HLS to Denounce Trump’s Attacks on Law Firms [The Crimson]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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