Coalition of conservative judges say they will not hire law students from Columbia after protests

A group of 13 conservative judges are boycotting Columbia University, declaring in a letter Monday that they would not hire law students or undergrads from the university after its anti-Israel protests.

Hundreds of protesters were arrested at Columbia University during the demonstrations last month. The activities led the university to cancel its main graduation ceremony on Monday, after weeks of protests, and said it would focus on school-level ceremonies instead. Access to its campus in the Manhattan neighborhood of Morningside also remains limited to essential employees and students who reside in on-campus housing. 

The judges claimed in a letter to the university's President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester that the campus was an "incubator of bigotry," and called for "serious consequences" for the students and faculty that participated in the unrest. All 13 judges were appointed under former President Donald Trump, according to Reuters.

"Since the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, Columbia University has become ground zero for the explosion of student disruptions, anti-semitism, and hatred for diverse viewpoints on campuses across the Nation," the judges said in the letter. "As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary, we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education ... As a result, Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country."

The boycott will start with students who enter the campus as freshmen this fall, and will remain in effect until certain criteria are met. These include punishing the students and faculty that participated in the protests, protecting the freedom of speech, and diversifying the viewpoints of staff members and professors at the university.

"Universities should also identify students who engage in [the protests] so that future employers can avoid hiring them," the letter said. "If not, employers are forced to assume the risk that anyone they hire from Columbia may be one of these disruptive and hateful students."

The letter was signed by justices who are predominantly from Texas, and two of the justices previously announced boycotts against Yale and Stanford law schools last year, after students disrupted conservative speakers.

The 13 judges are just a handful of the more than 900 federal judges in the United States. But federal judges hire law students every year for clerkships that help boost their legal careers.