Judge Stands Up For Military

One of the more outrageous practices in recent years has been the ban on military recruiting on some college campuses because of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Congress passed the Solomon Amendment in 1995, penalizing schools that receive federal money if they refuse to allow recruiters on campus. Unfortunately, that law was recently struck down by a federal judge. But I like the response by another federal judge, U.S. District Judge William Acker Jr., who has decided that he will no longer hire law clerks from those schools.

Acker wrote that he was exercising the same freedom of speech that U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall supported when she ruled Jan. 31. She backed the faculty's claim that their rights to free speech were violated by enforcement of the Solomon amendment, which requires schools to provide access to military recruiters or lose federal funding, including student loans.

In response, Acker said Yale Law School students need not apply.

"Some of my very best law clerks have been from the law school from which I proudly graduated," Acker said. "I therefore recognize that this publicly announced decision will hurt me more than the allowing of military recruiters would hurt YLS."

I suspect the judge will find some very fine law clerks from other schools. The contempt that elitist institutions are showing to America will provide students from other schools with a chance to show their ability, and to prove that the mere fact that a school is old does not mean it is superior. I hope more judges will have the guts to stand up to the anti-Americanism of institutions which lack the patriotism and commitment to freedom to allow their students the opportunity to talk to military recruiters.