Controversial political activities coming back to bite Forum

[Shooter]

A couple things:

1) The whole "law schools are liberal" thing is a little tiring. Even if you take this argument at face value, you have to remember that one "liberal" principle that they embrace is inclusion of multiple viewpoints and diversity of opinion. Whether it's because they're not liberal or they are liberal and admit people this way, many rather obvious conservatives get into top law schools every year, and there's a complete and total lack of people claiming they didn't get into schools matching their numbers and must have been discriminated against.

2) If you don't mention it at all on your application, I don't think it'll even matter.

I know you're like the resident guru here on TLS, but I disagree with point number 1. Top law schools are dedicated to diversity, but I'm not sure they consider "conservatism" to be a diverse characteristic (you'll notice that there are no broad movements to incentivize conservatives to apply to law school). Also, you know as well as I do that if a conservative person openly complained that they didn't get into the top law school of their choice because of their political views, they would be beaten up beyond recognition by most forum members.

[bk1]

Also, you know as well as I do that if a conservative person openly complained that they didn't get into the top law school of their choice because of their political views, they would be beaten up beyond recognition by most forum members.

Because they'd be both an idiot and dead wrong (unless their political views had to do with child pr0n).

[vanwinkle]

I know you're like the resident guru here on TLS, but I disagree with point number 1. Top law schools are dedicated to diversity, but I'm not sure they consider "conservatism" to be a diverse characteristic (you'll notice that there are no broad movements to incentivize conservatives to apply to law school).

Conservatives have 160,000 reasons to go to law school.

Are there really broad movements to incentivize liberals to go to law school? I'm not aware of any. There are lots of people trying to get into law school to be liberal activists, but it's not like there's people trying to (or needing to) recruit any of them.

Also, you know as well as I do that if a conservative person openly complained that they didn't get into the top law school of their choice because of their political views, they would be beaten up beyond recognition by most forum members.

This doesn't change the fact that they never surface in the first place. Plenty of clueless 0Ls willing to openly "claim discrimination" are out there, surely they'd get even louder if they really did have problems getting into schools of their range.

Or are you seriously claiming that people bold enough to be loud open conservatives on their apps would be easily deterred by the threat of people mocking them on the Internet?

[Shooter]

This discussion can't really continue without getting overtly political, so I'd rather just stop here.

I can say that your last point is extremely susceptible to non-response bias.

[09042014]

I didn't get into Harvard because I voted Bush in 2004. Tough but fair HLS.

[amorfati]

I'd beg to differ, at least to a certain extent. Sure, there's no "broad movement," but see this excerpt from Dean Asha of Yale's most recent (203) blog post:

..it's important to us as an institution to have a variety of viewpoints represented in order to foster robust and challenging classroom discussion -- to this end, we're very interested in having ideological diversity in each class. Law students, and by extension law schools, are on the whole liberal-leaning, so it's up to admissions officers like me to make sure we identify and attract those students who might be more right-of-center.

Check out the full post here: http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... doves.aspx

[Shooter]

I'd beg to differ, at least to a certain extent. Sure, there's no "broad movement," but see this excerpt from Dean Asha of Yale's most recent (203) blog post:

..it's important to us as an institution to have a variety of viewpoints represented in order to foster robust and challenging classroom discussion -- to this end, we're very interested in having ideological diversity in each class. Law students, and by extension law schools, are on the whole liberal-leaning, so it's up to admissions officers like me to make sure we identify and attract those students who might be more right-of-center.

Check out the full post here: http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... doves.aspx

That is good support, but it also admits that "law students, and by extension law schools, are on the whole liberal-leaning" - making this entire debate pointless.

[vanwinkle]

That is good support, but it also admits that "law students, and by extension law schools, are on the whole liberal-leaning" - making this entire debate pointless.

The claim wasn't that more law students are liberal, it's that there's an anti-conservative bias or some kind of active let's-recruit-liberals movement. The two are rather distinct, especially in that only the former is true.

[CanadianWolf]

Sounds as if you should be more concerned about what constitutes the unauthorized practice of law then you should be with being identified with conservative political beliefs. Essentially you accepted money from your employer to advocate for causes & positions on its behalf. Seems like you were a lawyer.

P.S. You should be fine on both counts especially since the US recognizes the Constitution's guarantees of freedom of speech & of the press.

[vanwinkle]

Sounds as if you should be more concerned about what constitutes the unauthorized practice of law then you should be with being identified with conservative political beliefs. Essentially you accepted money from your employer to advocate for causes & positions on its behalf. Seems like you were a lawyer.

P.S. You should be fine on both counts especially since the US recognizes the Constitution's guarantees of freedom of speech & of the press.

[NZA]

Was this before or after you banged that hooker?

Gay hooker, it was a republican think tank.

Gay hooker in an airport bathroom, it was a republican think tank.

[FiveSermon]

Lol, "I did what they told me."

Jeeez, Republicans aren't Nazis man. You'll be fine!

[notanumber]

That is good support, but it also admits that "law students, and by extension law schools, are on the whole liberal-leaning" - making this entire debate pointless.

The claim wasn't that more law students are liberal, it's that there's an anti-conservative bias or some kind of active let's-recruit-liberals movement. The two are rather distinct, especially in that only the former is true.

In addition to the YLS post about actively recruiting conservative candidates, I think anybody complaining about anti-conservative bias in law school admissions should also recall that the last admissions dean at HLS left his job to join the communist revolutionary front known as the "American Enterprise Institute."

OP: Highlight your paid internship on your resume. Law schools will eat it up.

[niederbomb]

That is good support, but it also admits that "law students, and by extension law schools, are on the whole liberal-leaning" - making this entire debate pointless.

The claim wasn't that more law students are liberal, it's that there's an anti-conservative bias or some kind of active let's-recruit-liberals movement. The two are rather distinct, especially in that only the former is true.

In addition to the YLS post about actively recruiting conservative candidates, I think anybody complaining about anti-conservative bias in law school admissions should also recall that the last admissions dean at HLS left his job to join the communist revolutionary front known as the "American Enterprise Institute."

OP: Highlight your paid internship on your resume. Law schools will eat it up.

LOL!

Thanks for the opinions on this thread! Very helpful, as always. I also worked for a lobbyist group for government employees one semester and then volunteered for the State Attorney General's Child Support Enforcement Division back home for another. Bloating public sector unions and squeezing fathers for money are hardly redneck conservative causes, so I hope they see diversity in my resume also.