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Congress Wants Some Answers About Federal Judges Hiring The 'I HATE BLACK PEOPLE' Law School Student

Demands for an investigation into the hiring of Crystal 'I HATE BLACK PEOPLE' Clanton.

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Judge William Pryor

Crystal Clanton may be on the legal profession’s fast track, but not everyone is happy about that. More than that, members of Congress are calling out her rise to the elite level of the profession as a troubling reflection on the federal judiciary.

You may remember Clanton from such problematic behavior that she was let go from conservative student group Turning Point USA in 2017. That’s because reports surfaced that she texted co-workers, “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE. Like fuck them all . . . I hate blacks. End of story.” There were more reports of bigoted comments from Clanton … of course that didn’t stop Ginni Thomas (Clarence’s wife) from hiring her. She then was admitted to ASSLaw — otherwise known as George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, for the uninitiated — and will graduate this spring.

Her post-graduation plans include some incredibly prestigious clerkships — with Judge Corey Maze of the Northern District of Alabama next year and Eleventh Circuit Judge William Pryor for 2023-24.

If your reaction to Clanton’s upward trajectory was whaaaaaaaa???, trust, you are not alone. Some members of Congress — Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr., Jerrold Nadler, Steve Cohen, Sheila Jackson Lee, Gerald E. Connolly, David N. Cicilline, and Zoe Lofgren — think Pryor and Maze have some ‘splaining to do. From their letter to Chief Justice John Roberts and Judge Charles Wilson, the most senior active member of the Eleventh Circuit:

[Judges Pryor and Maze] have hired an individual with a history of nakedly racist and hateful conduct as a future law clerk in their chambers. Placing an individual with this history in such close proximity to judicial decision-making threatens to seriously undermine the public’s faith in the federal judiciary. No litigant or lawyer who is part of a racial, national, or religious minority can trust that they will receive equal justice before these judges. No one bringing a case involving claims of discrimination or civil rights violations can assume that these judges’ rulings will be free from invidious bias. This is simply unacceptable.

YUP. All of that, just YUP.

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And whether it is a matter of not Googling the person they’re hiring or not caring about Clanton’s documented racism, it is a problem.

[W]e want to make clear that the focus of this letter is not the individual who was hired but, rather, the members of the federal judiciary who chose to hire her. This past conduct was clearly publicly available by the time of these judges’ hiring decisions. If the judges were not aware of their law clerk’s widely reported record, their negligent hiring practices present their own set of problems with the judiciary and the judges’ abilities to discharge their administrative responsibilities competently. In any event, to our knowledge, these judges have taken no remedial action since these facts were widely reported yet again during recent weeks.

They’re demanding an investigation into the matter, particularly since — despite the publicity surrounding Clanton’s hiring (you’re welcome) — both jurists have remained silent on the matter. The letter says, as a result, litigants and attorneys before the judges “are left with the impression that the judiciary is comfortable turning a blind eye to the hiring of an individual with a pattern of making racist and discriminatory remarks in precisely the forum the federal courts—where there is supposed to be justice for the victims of such discrimination.”

The letter asks for a briefing on the investigation by December 1st. Now, maybe I’m unduly cynical, but I can’t imagine too much comes from this. Wild behavior and claims of victimization when held accountable has become a pathway to success in right-wing legal circles. Whatever happens, it seems Clanton already understands exactly how to parlay notoriety into power and prestige.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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