The New York City Bar Association released a statement Monday condemning a group of federal judges for what the organization called “improper use of the judicial offices” over the judges’ recent letter stating they would no longer hire law clerks from Columbia University over its handling of the pro-Palestinian protests on campus earlier this year.
The Association’s statement comes in response to the May 6 letter signed by 13 U.S. federal judges appointed by Donald Trump—including U.S. Circuit Court judges Elizabeth Branch and James Ho, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Matthew Solomson, and U.S. Judge of the Court of International Trade Stephen Alexander Vaden, as well as nine district judges in Texas, Georgia and North Dakota—to Columbia University President Nemat “Minouche” Shafikand and Gillian Lester, the dean of Columbia Law School.