Monday, March 20, 2006

Federalist Society's Influence at Harvard Law School

From the Yale Taliban articles to the Rumsfeld v. F.A.I.R. military discrimination case, it is easy to get the opinion that elite universities are unbridled bastions of the far left.

But there is a glimmer of hope.

Recent Harvard Law School grad George W. Hicks, Jr. has written a 96-page .pdf article entitled "The Conservative Influence of the Federalist Society on the Harvard Law School Student Body" for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy.

He concludes: "Only after sitting through classes where students now argue to expand criminal liability and to limit affirmative action; only after eavesdropping on a lunchtime discussion of law and economics among Harvard Law Review editors; only after attending a debate on the place of the Ten Commandments within the public square would alumni begin to reach the same conclusion that anecdotal and empirical evidence bear out: that a noticeable rightward shift has taken place among the Harvard Law School student body."

Mr. Hicks is currently serving as law clerk for D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Janice Rogers Brown, and will clerk next term for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

3 comments:

Rick Ballard said...

Brylun,

He should stick with Brown. When Steven's retires in June he would wind up working in the same place.

vnjagvet said...

Brylun:

Great find. It is noteworthy that the power of ideas sometimes manifests itself in student thought before it hits the faculty. The appearance of this article in an official Harvard publication is particularly heartening.

Rick:

From your lips to GWB's ears.

MeaninglessHotAir said...

babushka,

I tend to agree with your assessment of Harvard. The people I have met there are not mindless followers, to say the least. It's remarkable to me that the current PC craze has gone as far as it has there. I assume that everyone is simply paying lip service to it and thinking it's another foolish craze and will soon go away. Which it probably will.