Shapiro Suspended
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Georgetown Law School has put Ilya Shapiro, an incoming director of a research institute, on administrative leave following a series of deleted tweets about President Joe Biden naming a "lesser Black woman" to the Supreme Court instead of other potential nominees due to the president's promise to make a historic selection.
"Ilya Shapiro's tweets are antithetical to the work that we do here every day to build inclusion, belonging, and respect for diversity," Georgetown Law School Dean William Treanor wrote in a note to the law school community, according to Slate's Mark Joseph Stern.
Treanor said Shapiro will remain on leave and off-campus until an investigation into whether he violated the university's policies and "expectations of professional conduct" is complete. InsideHigherEd reported that the Georgetown Black Law Students Association among others had previously called for Shapiro's termination.
Shapiro, who was previously a top official at the libertarian Cato Institute, suggested that Biden should consider Judge Sri Srinivasan, who is chief judge of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, for the impending vacancy on the Supreme Court. Like other commentators, Shapiro suggested that Biden's public commitment to naming a Black woman to the high court would result in him ignoring other candidates.
"Even has identity politics benefit of being first Asian (Indian) American. But alas doesn't fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman. Thank heaven for small favors?" Shapiro wrote in a now-deleted tweet.
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Good luck.
Volokh comments:
https://reason.com/volokh/2022/01/31/georgetown-discrimination-harassment-and-political-affiliation/
Something Georgetown might want to keep in mind when deciding when Tweets from faculty members are punishable as "discrimination" or "harassment": D.C., like many jurisdictions, bans employment discrimination based on "political affiliation," though defined narrowly to refer only to "belonging to or endorsing any political party." It also bans discrimination in educational programs based on political affiliation. Unsurprisingly, Georgetown's antidiscrimination policy covers political affiliation alongside other characteristics.
If Georgetown were to interpret its policies on discrimination and harassment as forbidding tweets that are seen as offensive or derogatory to particular racial groups, then I think it would be bound to apply the same rules to future tweets that are seen as offensive or derogatory to people who belong to or endorse any political party as well. I don't think the policies should be thus interpreted, and in particular I don't think the Ilya Shapiro tweet should be seen as violating those policies. But if they are thus interpreted, then that would have to cover future public statements by other Georgetown faculty related to political party (and, of course, religion) as well as race or sex.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
