My friend Judge James Ho recently announced that he is boycotting the hiring of law clerks from my alma mater, Yale Law School, because it "tolerates the cancellation of views" and "actively practices it." I think this is a bad decision, and I hope it might be useful to say why.
I agree with Ho's criticisms about the unfortunate free speech incidents at Yale in recent years. I hope that Yale hears such criticisms and takes steps to fix the problems. For what it is worth, I believe that it has, and will.
Ho can of course hire law clerks from whatever law school he wants, using whatever criteria he wants. I have known many judges who have declined to hire from particular law schools for various reasons. The question for me is whether it is prudent for Ho to announce and encourage a federal judicial boycott of Yale in order to punish it for its "cancel culture" and "send the message" that other law schools should not be like Yale. I think not.
