Old Dominion News

The legal profession reached a new low when a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judge was denied his First Amendment right to free speech while traveling to Stanford Law School in Palo Alto, California, to lecture, according to former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement.

As previously reported, Judge Kyle Duncan was shouted down March 9 by students who were displeased with his opposition to LGBTQ issues, such as transgenderism.

“It would be dangerous enough if it was limited to the discussion of abstract ideas but it has become personalized to judges and justices to the point where you saw the debacle at Stanford Law School,” Clement said. “He couldn’t get the speech out because of the level of protest and refusal to respect essentially his right to engage in a dialogue.”

Clement, who served as the 43rd U.S. solicitor general under former President George W. Bush, expressed his opinion during lunch at the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) policy conference May 12 at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, Virginia.

“This is particularly problematic when we combine all this together with the attack on the legitimacy and integrity of the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said. “A Supreme Court justice, by the nature of life tenure, removing yourself from active everyday society a bit, putting on some robes and sitting up on the bench, is not particularly well suited to defend themselves.”

Clement was at the conference to receive the 2023 Ed Meese Award. The honor, named after former President Ronald Reagan's attorney general, is presented annually to an individual who has upheld the rule of law in the face of adverse political challenges.

“Paul Clement received the award because he has twice chosen a conservative client over the prestigious law firm when a leftist mob demanded that he drop a client who no longer deserves his representation,” said Harmeet Dhillon, the RNLA chair. “An ethical lawyer will remain loyal to his client as Paul has done. We all know that is not an easy choice, particularly in today's overheated and vitriolic environment.”

Dhillon further noted that Clement has provided legal representation to many pro bono clients, has taught at several law schools and has argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He worked at the high court as a law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia from 1993-94.

"Some of the criticism coming from the left is perfectly appropriate at particular Supreme Court decisions, but some of it goes beyond that in questioning the legitimacy of the court," Clement said. "In my view that is an incredibly dangerous game to be playing because if you study the Supreme Court through history, its legitimacy has to be built up over time. And it's been a careful effort that has literally taken centuries."