Law Professors and Politics

Is there political discrimination in America’s law schools? A recent incident in Iowa suggests so, and law schools may well experience a shake down that compels them to be more politically representative. From WaPo, the story about Teresa Wagner:

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Praised by colleagues as smart, friendly and passionate about the law, Teresa Wagner was a leading candidate when two jobs came open to teach writing at the University of Iowa law school. An alumnus, she was already working part-time at its writing center and received positive reviews from students and a key committee.

But after she interviewed with the faculty in 2007, one job went to someone without teaching experience and the other wasn’t filled. She was passed over for other jobs in the coming years. She now says she was blackballed because of her legal work against abortion rights and will take her complaint to a jury this week in a case that is being closely watched in higher education because of longstanding allegations of political bias at left-leaning law schools….

“This will put a spotlight on a terrible injustice that is being perpetrated throughout American higher education,” said Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, who says he routinely hears from rejected conservative professors. “What makes Teresa Wagner’s case so extraordinary is she came up with the documentary evidence of what was really going on.”…

Many law schools recruit conservative scholars to join their faculty and top law schools pride themselves on having prominent representatives of different perspectives. Some law schools, especially those affiliated with the Catholic church and other religions, also lean strongly conservative. Still, many liberals concede they outnumber their colleagues on faculties around the country but say reasons such as career choices may explain the disparity, not discrimination in hiring….