Ilya Shapiro, a respected legal scholar and libertarian commentator, was supposed to start his new position as senior lecturer and executive administrator at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution today.
Instead, the law school has placed Shapiro on administrative leave pending an investigation into some tweets he made about Joe Biden’s pledge to nominate a black female to the Supreme Court.
The tweets, now deleted, were inelegantly written but hardly a reason to bring out the pitchforks.
New York Post:
“Objectively best pick for Biden is Sri Srinivasan, who is solid [progressive] and [very] smart,” Shapiro tweeted. “Even has identity politics benefit of being first Asian (Indian) American. But alas doesn’t fit into last intersectionality hierarchy so we’ll get lesser black woman. Thank heaven for small favors?”
In a follow-up tweet, Shapiro wrote, “Because Biden said he’s only consider [sic] black women for SCOTUS, his nominee will always have an asterisk attached. Fitting that the Court takes up affirmative action next term.”
Shapiro’s point — that determining a Supreme Court choice’s fitness for office based solely and exclusively on the gender and color of their skin is wrong on many levels — is a valid criticism.
But then, there’s that “lesser black woman” part, the intent of which was to highlight Srinivasan’s excellence and not meant to denigrate any black woman.
In truth, Shapiro left the door wide open for an assault, and the left gleefully pounced.
NRO:
When confronted about his dishonest effort to bring heaven and earth down on Shapiro — Georgetown Law dean William Treanor issued a statement saying “the tweets are antithetical to the work that we do here every day to build inclusion belonging and respect for diversity” and promising that Shapiro remain on leave and off campus “pending an investigation into whether he violated out policies and expectations on professional conduct, non-discrimination, and anti-harrassment” — Stern cowardly claimed to have done no such thing.
It would be nice if we lived in a world where our mistakes in phrasing weren’t weaponized against us. But that sort of world would require empathy, understanding, perhaps even a sense of humor.
It would also require left-wing radicals to be more than humorless, emotionally-stunted infants.
The Hill:
Shapiro issued an apology Friday for his “poor choice of words” on Twitter.
He wrote in part, “A person’s dignity and worth simply do not, and should not, depend on race, gender, or any other immutable characteristic. While it’s important that a wide variety of perspectives and backgrounds be respected in the judiciary, so blatantly using identity politics in choosing Supreme Court justices is discrediting to a vital institution.”
Shapiro also tweeted Monday that he is “optimistic” that Georgetown’s investigation would be “impartial” and that he is “confident” that his tweet was within the university’s policies.
Since Shapiro did not grovel before the mob, they will continue to howl for his scalp.
By taking a job at Georgetown law, Shapiro has dared enter the inner sanctum sanctorum of liberal orthodoxy, so it’s no wonder the inmates would be upset. Surely he must have known that even if he hadn’t slipped up, the radicals would have eventually found something to hang him with.
Source: PJ Media
