"The law is an ass"

I think Mr. Bumbles meant that the Law-yer is an ass.

Stay with me. I am giving you the following little anecdote for a reason.

Today I am getting on the elevator on my plantation with an African American security officer who works with me. There was a well dressed young lady (she seemed to be in her early thirties) in the lobby with us, and she walked behind us to the elevator. The guard and I got on, but girlfriend stopped short. The guard, to his credit, held the door open, looked out at her, and asked her if she was going up. (The elevator only went up, we were on the first floor and this elevator does not go down.) The poor child got on and seemed both embarrassed and terrified at the same time. Face pressed against the door; never looking back even once; even when the guard tried to make small talk with her. (Oh field, stop it, maybe the poor girl was afraid of elevators. Ever though of that Mr. Racism Chaser? ) So anywhooo, turns out the young lady was a lawyer and she was going to my floor to have a hearing in front of one of my colleagues. -I was kind of hoping it was me.- Hey, not that I would not have been fair to her client. Unlike Radio Rwanda, I really am "fair and balanced". I never let personal biases or outside influences affect my decisions. Strictly by the book for the kid. It just would have been interesting, that's all I am saying.

So I tell this story about this young lawyer to tell you another one about future lawyers at one of A-merry-ca's finest legal institutions. Sadly, my friends, even those among us who are supposed to be "enlightened" can't seem to shake themselves from the shackles of bigotry and ignorance.

The following *article is by Kashmir Hill writing for AboveTheLaw.com:

"Every time you put something into an email, please remember that someone you send it to may hit Forward. If your email makes the case for a biological reason for racial disparities in intelligence, someone might hit Forward and send it to Black Law Student Associations across the nation.

That’s what happened to a Harvard 3L yesterday. We’ll call this 3L CRIMSON DNA. According to our sources, DNA made some controversial comments about race at a dinner held by the school’s Federalist Society. CORRECTION: This dinner was not an official Fed Soc dinner. [FN1]

After the dinner, DNA felt the need to send an email to a few friends clarifying those views. Here’s an excerpt:

'I absolutely do not rule out the possibility that African Americans are, on average, genetically predisposed to be less intelligent. I could also obviously be convinced that by controlling for the right variables, we would see that they are, in fact, as intelligent as white people under the same circumstances. The fact is, some things are genetic. African Americans tend to have darker skin. Irish people are more likely to have red hair.'

One of the 3Ls to receive that email, available in full after the jump, was very upset by it. We’ll call this student CRIMSON OUTRAGE. OUTRAGE arranged for the email to be sent out to the Harvard Black Law Student Association list-serv, including DNA’s name and the fact that after graduation, the author will be doing a federal clerkship.

After that, the email went viral, apparently circulating to BLSAs across the country. There are now plans to try to go after DNA’s clerkship….

UPDATE: We’ve added a statement from the president of the Harvard Federalist Society below, a statement from Harvard BLSA over here, and a statement from Dean Martha Minow over here.

We got the email multiple times last night, from lots of first-time tipsters horrified that a person at Harvard Law School with a federal clerkship offer in hand holds such views. The person sending out the email to the Harvard BLSA wrote:

I am saddened that a current HLS student holds such antagonistic and archaic views about our people and that the potential impact of her ignorance is only strengthened by her prestigious affiliations and credentials." [Article here]

A "federal clerkship"? Oh Lawd! O man, please do not select that Judge this person will be clerking for to the supremes. Although, to be honest, I bet they would feel right at home in Washington.

*Thanks for the story, "A". ;)