Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. -Accomplish hours of research in seconds -Instantly draft high-quality communications -Verify answers using a library of trusted tax content. Learn more

Harvard Law Review Retaliates Against Former Editor Working In Trump Administration Who Alleged Pervasive Pattern Of Racial Discrimination

Following up on my previous posts (link below):  Washington Free Beacon (Aaron Sibarium), Harvard Law Review Retaliates Against Alleged Leaker—And Demands He Press Free Beacon To Destroy Documents:

HarvardThe Harvard Law Review retaliated against a student editor for allegedly leaking documents to the Washington Free Beacon and demanded, as part of the journal’s disciplinary process, that he request their destruction, according to emails obtained by the Free Beacon. The demand came as the law review was under a document retention order stemming from multiple federal probes, raising questions about whether the journal was also trying to interfere with a government investigation.

The Justice Department told Harvard on May 13 that it was investigating reports of racial discrimination at the journal, according to the New York Times. A week later, the law review instructed a student who was cooperating with the government in that investigation, Daniel Wasserman, to round up the documents he’d allegedly shared.

The journal told Wasserman to "[r]equest that any parties with whom you have shared Confidential Materials … delete or return them to The Review." The instruction, conveyed by the law review’s disciplinary committee on May 20, came as the journal was investigating Wasserman for allegedly leaking documents to the Free Beacon, whose report on the law review’s racial preferences had triggered probes by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services in addition to the Justice Department.

People who participate in such probes are protected from retaliation by federal law. But two days after the journal asked Wasserman to round up documents, it informed him that he would be receiving a "Formal Reprimand" in his law review file.

"This Formal Reprimand informs you that your actions violate Law Review policies and do not reflect our community expectations," the journal’s disciplinary committee wrote on May 22. "Continued violations may give rise to additional disciplinary proceedings."

The reprimand was retracted five days later after the Justice Department accused the law review of retaliating against Wasserman and instructing him to destroy evidence, according to the New York Times.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

Editor's Note:  If you would like to receive a daily email with links to legal education posts on TaxProf Blog, email me here.


About the Author

Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. Blue J's generative AI tax research solution is transforming how tax experts work. Learn more.
Information and rates on advertising on TaxProf Blog

Discover more from TaxProf Blog

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading