Law Students Shout Down Ilya Shapiro for 45 Minutes

Georgetown Law’s cancellation campaign against Ilya Shapiro has gone national. The libertarian-conservative constitutional law scholar, who was placed on administrative leave at the end of January amid an activist-led backlash over his tweets, was shouted down by students at a University of California, Hastings College of Law event on Tuesday.

National Review has viewed the full 45-minute video of the encounter, revealing a chaotic scene in which students mocked and hurled profanity at Shapiro, who remained calm throughout. His speech, organized by the school chapter of the Federalist Society, had been scheduled months in advance. The event, titled “The Battle Over Justice Breyer’s Seat,” was set to feature a debate between Shapiro and progressive UC Hastings professor Rory Little. Shapiro remains on leave from Georgetown over his January tweet criticizing President Biden’s vow to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court; he had argued that Sri Srinivasan, an Indian-American judge, would have been the best pick but “we’ll get [a] lesser black woman” because Srinivasan doesn’t meet the racial criteria. Shapiro apologized for the phrasing.

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Nate Hochman

Nate Hochman was a staff writer at National Review.

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Georgetown Law’s cancellation campaign against Ilya Shapiro has gone national. The libertarian-conservative constitutional law scholar, who was placed on administrative leave at the end of January amid an activist-led backlash over his tweets, was shouted down by students at a University of California, Hastings College of Law event on Tuesday.

National Review has viewed the full 45-minute video of the encounter, revealing a chaotic scene in which students mocked and hurled profanity at Shapiro, who remained calm throughout. His speech, organized by the school chapter of the Federalist Society, had been scheduled months in advance. The event, titled “The Battle Over Justice Breyer’s Seat,” was set to feature a debate between Shapiro and progressive UC Hastings professor Rory Little. Shapiro remains on leave from Georgetown over his January tweet criticizing President Biden’s vow to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court; he had argued that Sri Srinivasan, an Indian-American judge, would have been the best pick but “we’ll get [a] lesser black woman” because Srinivasan doesn’t meet the racial criteria. Shapiro apologized for the phrasing.