On Tuesday, Judge James Ho was scheduled to speak to the Georgetown Federalist Society Chapter about fair-weather originalism. But in light of recent events, Ho decided to talk about another topic: Ilya Shapiro, cancel culture, and color blindness. National Review wrote about Ho's remarks, which a Georgetown student kindly shared with me. Here, I will offer a few highlights.
First, Ho vigorously defends the freedom of speech, not just on constitutional grounds, but on pragmatic grounds. The best way of knowing your own position is to confront those who disagree with you.
So cancel culture is not just antithetical to our constitutional culture and our American culture. It's completely antithetical to the very legal system that each of you seeks to join. . . .
If you disagree with Ilya Shapiro—if you think his understanding of the law is absurd—if you think his vision for our country is awful—here's what I say: Bring him onto campus—and beat him!
