Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will no longer be teaching a course at George Washington University’s law school in the fall, according to reports.
While the announcement comes after 11,000 community members signed a petition demanding Thomas’s removal from his role last month, an email sent to students explaining the decision said Thomas is “unavailable” to teach the course.
GWU officials had declined to remove Thomas from his role in response to backlash from students who wanted him ousted over his vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Unfortunately, I am writing with some sad news: Justice Thomas has informed me that he is unavailable to co-teach the seminar this fall. I know that this is disappointing,” Thomas’s planned co-lecturer, Gregory Maggs, wrote in an email obtained by the GW Hatchet.
He added, “I am very sorry.The seminar has not been canceled but I will now be the sole instructor. For those of you still interested in taking the course, I assure you that we will make the best of the new situation.”
The university’s College Republicans chapter expressed concern that Thomas’s withdrawal was the result of internal pressure from campus activists in a statement provided to National Review.
“GW College Republicans is extremely disappointed and worried by the announcement that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will not be teaching at GW Law in the fall. The university has lost a key figure who provides an invaluable contribution to the wide ideological spectrum that the university strives to promote,” the statement read. “We recognize that the current reports indicate Justice Thomas made this decision based on his availability, but the uproar from the student body regarding his presence as faculty – and the incessant hostility shown towards conservative students and beliefs on campus in general – is great cause for alarm and must be addressed by the university. We hope that the university will continue to pursue its mission of academic freedom and ideological diversity with more fervor in the future.”
The student newspaper notes that Thomas is no longer listed as a lecturer on GW Law’s course list. Maggs and Thomas had been co-teaching the Constitutional law course since 2011, according to the report.A representative for GWU reportedly confirmed the announcement to Fox News.