Ilya Shapiro gets suspended for doing one too many racisms

GULC dean Bill Treanor, who was A-OK with taking whatever institutional payoff was proffered to hire Ilya Shapiro to run Randy Barnett’s vanity project, without of course asking the GULC faculty about it first, is now just totally outraged by that totally unpredictable thing that Shapiro did:

Dear Members of the Georgetown Law Community,

Over the past several days, I have heard the pain and outrage of so many at Georgetown Law, and particularly from our Black female students, staff, alumni, and faculty. Ilya Shapiro’s tweets are antithetical to the work that we do here every day to build inclusion, belonging, and respect for diversity. I have heard and listened to a wide range of views, and I am grateful to the many members of the community who have reached out to me and other leaders at the school to share their thoughts.

I am writing to inform you that I have placed Ilya Shapiro on administrative leave, pending an investigation into whether he violated our policies and expectations on professional conduct, non-discrimination, and anti-harassment, the results of which will inform our next steps. Pending the outcome of the investigation, he will remain on leave and not be on campus. This investigation will follow the procedures established by Georgetown University.

Racial stereotypes about individual capabilities and qualifications remain a pernicious force in our society and our profession. I am keenly aware that our law school is not exempt. We will continue our work with students, staff, alumni, and faculty to put in place strategies, policies, and practices to strengthen our community and our commitment to justice and equality for all. And I remain committed to working with each of you to create a community where we can all thrive.

Sincerely,

Bill Treanor

A couple of points: Shapiro has long trafficked in the casual racism so often found not just among right wing legal elites, but plenty of liberals as well.

Remember when such people fell all over themselves talking about how superbly qualified Elena Kagan was to join the Supremes, while sniffing at Affirmative Action Candidate Sonia Sotomayor? I do! Spoiler: Even in the most conventional possible terms, Sotomayor was better “qualified” than Kagan. Do you wonder what could possibly account for the fact that Kagan was considered a great candidate, and Sotomayor a weak one? I don’t!

Anyway, this isn’t one of those genuinely difficult cases in which a tenured faculty member keeps doing casual or not so casual racisms, and the institution struggles to handle the tension between academic freedom and having a lot of flaming racists around.

Shapiro wasn’t going to have tenure at GULC, and if you’re a white guy opining on the putative qualifications of every single black woman in the entire world, and reaching the remarkable conclusion that every single one of them is automatically less “qualified” than your pet candidate for the big job, you shouldn’t tweet out that 100% racist sentiment and expect that doing so will be consequence free.