Law Schools

Dumb Law School Professor Calls Supreme Court Justice Dumb

There's nothing better than being called a second-rate intellect by a third-rate intellect.

By  
on

UPDATE: Check out below wherein Professor Henderson actually takes my advice.

After his last round of racially charged tomfoolery, Professor M. Todd Henderson of the University of Chicago Law School quit Twitter in a huff. Well, he’s back and if his goal was to rehabilitate his image… he probably should have stayed gone. There are boards on 8Chan for you, buddy.

Yesterday’s shenanigans began with another person’s tweet that pointed out, correctly, that we shouldn’t really care if Brett Kavanaugh is a bodacious carpooler when he picks up the other affluent suburban kids from soccer practice because little Kaylin’s greatest existential turmoil is “getting the fresh orange slices before they run out” and not “getting shot by the cops from a cruiser window.” It’s an argument that really shouldn’t have to be made, but we live in an era where hypocrisy and mendacity hold sway.

Henderson retweeted this with the sort of shallow, racially dubious reasoning we’ve come to expect:

First of all, this is just cheap racist pandering. From converting her Latina background and experience into the diminutive and derisive “Latinaness” to converting her deep credentials and demonstrated judicial acumen into a question of her “soul,” it’s all designed to rile up the audience who finds an intellectual lodestone wherever the achievement of minorities can be dismissed as a sham.

Second, the context of Henderson’s argument is that Brett Kavanaugh’s carpool skills are equivalent to a Latinx background, which is as demeaning as it is stupid. When Justice Sotomayor cites her background as a factor in her jurisprudence, she does so in the same way Justice O’Connor spoke of Justice Marshall, “[h]is story made clear what legal briefs often obscure: the impact of legal rules on human lives.” Coming at the law from the perspective of a community often on the wrong end of constitutional abuses is actually relevant to sussing out the right answer. Being a “nice guy” isn’t.

Sponsored

And third, one has to appreciate Henderson’s hackish devotion to the phrase “second-rate intellect.” After he got eviscerated from all corners over his defense of Chicago’s “toilet people” racial controversy, he backchanneled me a comical display of sham bravado about how he is willing to debate anybody anytime and anyplace… just not a “second-rate intellect” like me. Or, apparently, the people who routinely clown him.

Convenient!

But still, it’s good to know I’m in the same rarified air as Justice Sotomayor.

Is Henderson consciously spouting off racist tweets or just so clueless he doesn’t understand the right-wing talking point paint-by-numbers job he likes to invoke. Someone on Twitter politely raised the racial insensitivity underlying Henderson’s comments, and Henderson offered the standard white guy meltdown over how offensive it is to suggest that the racist thing he just said might be racist if he didn’t mean it that way. Or at least if he didn’t mean for you to hear it that way.

This prompted a far more eloquent, balanced, and polite comeback than most could muster:

Sponsored

For this effort, Henderson blocked the account. That “anybody anytime and anyplace” mantra keeps on taking hits! I guess this person is a “second-rate intellect” too.

Don’t worry Marshall Fan Club, the second-rate intellect club welcomes you with open arms. In time, you’ll learn to love moments like this the way the rest of us do.

Because there’s nothing better than being called a second-rate intellect by a third-rate intellect.

UPDATE: Henderson has now quit Twitter… again. Probably smart move.

Earlier: I Really Don’t Care If Your Preferred SCOTUS Nominee Is ‘Nice’
You Should Absolutely Read This Insane Law School Event Promo Calling Immigrants Toilet People
UChicago Student President’s Letter Eviscerates Administration Over Repeated Failures
UChicago Administration Doubles Down On Mocking Immigrants — So Much For That ‘Environment Of Inclusion’ They Said Was So Important
Crybaby Law Professor Quits Twitter In A Huff Over UChicago Immigration Slur Debacle
Law School Professor Has New Murder Mystery About Genius, Influential Law Professor Who Is Suspiciously Just Like Him

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

Topics

, , , ,