Georgetown Law School placed newly appointed professor Ilya Shapiro on administrative leave in response to the fallout over his tweets critical of President Joe Biden’s promise to nominate a black woman to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.
William Treanor, the dean of the Georgetown Law School, announced Shapiro had been placed on administrative leave in an email to the law school community on Monday, less than two weeks after the school had announced he had been hired.
“Ilya Shapiro’s tweets are antithetical to the work that we do here every day to build inclusion, belonging, and respect for diversity,” Treanor wrote in the email. “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.”
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“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,” Treanor went on. “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.”
Shapiro had sparked outrage for tweeting an endorsement of D.C. Circuit Court Judge Sri Srinivasan for the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the announced retirement of Breyer, in which he said the judge “doesn’t fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we’ll get lesser black woman.”
Shapiro has since deleted and apologized for the tweet, which he called “inartful.” His position at the law school included an appointment as executive director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.
In a statement, Shapiro said that he is optimistic the investigation will be fair and will conclude that his tweet was protected speech. “Accordingly, I expect to be vindicated and look forward to joining my new colleagues in short order,” he said.
Shapiro has been a longtime scholar at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, where he currently serves as vice president and as the director of the organization’s constitutional studies department.
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Shapiro did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Georgetown provided the Washington Examiner with a copy of Treanor’s email but declined to comment further, citing an inability to comment on personnel matters.
