Bloomberg Law, Judge Urges Law School Donation Halt Until Originalism Taught:

Conservative appeals court Judge Amul Thapar called on donors to withhold support from law schools that don’t hire an ideologically diverse faculty and teach originalist theory.

Thapar, a Trump appointee to the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Supreme Court short lister, criticized what he said is an absence in originalist teaching at top law schools during remarks Wednesday at the Heritage Foundation. 

The 2024 Joseph Story Distinguished Lecture: Why Originalist Courts Need Originalist Classrooms

“Much is amiss” at our nation’s law schools, where professors are “overwhelmingly anti-originalist” and “teach widely accepted originalist methods through a distorted, uncharitable and often inaccurate lens,” Thapar said.

And the “main victim” of that failure are the federal district courts, where judges are most overworked and lack the time to pore over historical texts to craft originalist opinions if attorneys aren’t arguing them, he said.

“Imagine how many cases would have turned out differently if lawyers had been taught in law school how to make originalist arguments in their clients’ favor,” Thapar said. “It’s amazing how many times my colleagues and I say, ‘if they only would have made argument X, their client might have had a chance.’”

• Law.com, 6th Circuit Judge Thapar on Making Originalism Work in Trial Courts 
• Law360, Thapar Flays Law Schools, Attys For Anti-Originalist Mindsets
• Reuters, Conservative US Judge Pushes Yanking Law School Funding Until ‘Originalism’ Taught

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