Entirely unsurprising:
Politics in Law Firm and Law School Hiring: Time for some Tit for Tat?
The following question was posed to the NY Times‘ resident ethics expert:
While interviewing law students for jobs as paid summer interns and full-time associates for my firm, I noticed several had résumés listing their activities in the Federalist Society. Some of my partners have conservative views similar to those of the society, but I do not. These students’ politics would not affect their professional function, but my review is meant to consider their judgment and personality (though I don’t need to give reasons for the assessments given). May I recommend not hiring someone solely because of his or her politics?
To his credit, Randy Cohen of the Times answered that you cannot discriminate – but the larger issue is: how could anyone even ask such a question? Only in a politicized society in which people are to be judged on ideological purity as opposed to competence. Remember, we’re not asking here if we should hire the crazed, Islamist zealot as security guard for our nuclear weapons – we’re talking about a law firm. As far as Federalist views go, plus or minus, they have no effect on a lawyer representing his client – the law is what the law is. The lawyer with a Federalist background might be offended at any one of a hundred laws currently on the books – so might a lawyer with an ACLU background – but as long as a lawyer can do his job, that doesn’t matter. Not hiring based on ideology is a reflection of hatred, pure and simple.
The person who asked the question just doesn’t want people of the “wrong” view to have, well, anything – its the sort of attitude which informs the socialist elites in totalitarian societies. There they divvy up the people between “socially friendly” and “socially hostile” elements, and woe to those who are rated “hostile”. This is what we’re in for if we don’t win this battle against the left – eventually, we’ll be forced out, everywhere, simply because we don’t toe the leftist line.
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