Georgetown Law School has reinstated constitutional law professor Ilya Shapiro from administrative leave, four months after he was initially barred from teaching for criticizing President Joe Biden’s vow to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court.
In a Thursday tweet, Shapiro announced that he would begin work on Friday as the executive director of Georgetown Law School’s Constitution Center, four months after he was initially set to start the job.
GEORGETOWN LAW STUDENTS DEMAND SPACE TO CRY
“It’s over – going to work at [Georgetown Law School] tomorrow,” Shapiro said in the tweet.
https://twitter.com/ishapiro/status/1532416472072470529?s=20&t=KcHsoZO7LJIrS9ZLM_52iA
“I’m gratified that I’ll get to do the job for which I was hired more than four months ago,” Shapiro said in a statement. “I look forward to teaching and engaging in a host of activities relating to constitutional education. As befitting a Center for the Constitution, all students and participants in my programs can expect to be accorded the freedom to think and speak freely and to be treated equally: a diversity of ideas will be most welcome.”
https://twitter.com/ishapiro/status/1532428559826006016?s=20&t=TzRh2pTDV8RMroITD4lERQ
Shapiro had been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation after he tweeted that Biden should nominate DC Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sri Srinivasan to the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, but given the president’s vow to nominate a black woman to the court, the seat would be filled by a “lesser black woman.”
The president ultimately nominated DC Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is set to assume the position on the nation’s highest court at the end of the court’s 2021-22 term.
Shapiro’s now-deleted tweet, which he called “inartful,” touched off a firestorm of controversy at the high-profile DC law school that led to student protesters demanding spaces to cry on campus.
In a statement to the Georgetown Law School community and provided to the Washington Examiner, Dean William Treanor said that because Shapiro sent his controversial tweets prior to his scheduled start date of employment with the law school on Feb. 1, “he was not properly subject to discipline for them.”
“As a result, he can begin his work as Executive Director, and he will, subject to the Law Center’s normal Office of Academic Affairs processes, be able to teach upper-class elective courses as a senior lecturer,” Treanor said.
Treanor said that Shapiro would be required to undergo training on “implicit bias, cultural competence, and non-discrimination” as required of all Georgetown Law School senior staff.
“I am deeply aware of the pain this incident has given rise to in our campus community, particularly but not exclusively among our Black female students, faculty, staff, and alumni,” Treanor said. “I am thankful for the involvement and commitment of so many. I know that there will be a range of feelings and concerns about this resolution, and I am respectful of those differences.”
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“Georgetown Law is committed to preserving and protecting the right of free and open inquiry, deliberation, and debate,” he continued. “We have an equally compelling obligation to foster a campus community that is free from bias and in which every member is treated with respect and courtesy. I am committed to continuing to strive toward both of these indispensable goals.”
