This one may have been overlooked because it just doesn’t fit the narrative, and shines too much of a spotlight on America’s most prestigious liberal breeding ground: Harvard.
Snowflakes have destroyed the career of someone who should be one of their idols. Keep reading…
Picture this: an African-American law professor at Harvard, that has the Curriculum Vitae that should make liberals proud, as they beat their chests about social justice. This professor’s name is Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr., here is some of his awesomeness that should have liberals fawning over him:
- Director of the Public Defender Service in Washington, DC
- Former President and Faculty Advisor to the Black Law Students Association
- General Editor of the Publication now known as “The Harvard Journal on Racial and Ethnic Justice”
- Super-lawyer that kept Bill Clinton out of jail
- Recruited to Harvard by Liberal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan
- Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard, that provides criminal legal representation to people who can’t afford it
- Lawyer for one of the Jena Six teenagers
- Lawyer for the family of Michael Brown, part of the incident that allegedly spawned Black Lives Matter
But there’s just one big problem, he decided to join the legal team of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood power-broker who is accused (not convicted) of sexual harassment and other misconduct.
Apparently, students don’t feel safe on campus anymore, because this liberal lion is representing a client that they detest. Students are even claiming that this is “Trauma-inducing.” Harvard’s administration, in French-like fashion quickly surrendered, and dismissed Sullivan.
This New York Times opinion piece written by a fellow Harvard Law Professor is worth the read. It really left us just shaking our heads at the absurdity of it all. Here are some tidbits:
Enraged by Mr. Sullivan’s work on behalf of Mr. Weinstein, a cadre of students at Winthrop, and in other parts of the university as well, demanded the lawyer’s ouster, asserting that his choice of client undermined their confidence in his ability to be properly attuned to their thoughts and feelings. Some said that Mr. Sullivan’s choice was nothing less than “trauma-inducing.”
The upshot is that Harvard College appears to have ratified the proposition that it is inappropriate for a faculty dean to defend a person reviled by a substantial number of students — a position that would disqualify a long list of stalwart defenders of civil liberties and civil rights, including Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall.
Harvard officials are certainly capable of withstanding student pressure. This time, though, they don’t want to. Some high-ranking administrators have clearly been guided by an affinity for the belief that Mr. Sullivan’s representation of Mr. Weinstein constituted a betrayal of enlightened judgment. Others have simply been willing to be mau-maued.
Huge props if you don’t have to Google “mau-maued”
52 members of the Harvard Law School faculty, myself included, signed a letter supporting Mr. Sullivan’s “dedication to the professional tradition of providing representation to people accused to crimes and other misconduct, including those who are most reviled.” We called upon Harvard “to recognize that such legal advocacy in service of constitutional principles is not only fully consistent with Sullivan’s roles of law professor and dean of an undergraduate house, but also one of the many possible models that resident deans can provide in teaching, mentoring and advising students.”
Seriously, we’re shaking our heads in disgust on this one. We almost have sympathy for this liberal Harvard Law Professor. We do agree with the opinion expressed in the article that everyone should have some access to representation even the most reviled. Plus the most basic principle of our entire judicial system – that you’re innocent until proven guilty (even when you’ve been convicted by the hit-and-run MSM).
Quick constitutional refresher before the weekend, a little ditty called the 6th Amendment:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Have a great weekend!
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