Toward Improved Intellectual Diversity in Law Schools

Abstract

Law school faculties tilt heavily to the left. There is no plausible explanation for this tilt other than discrimination against scholars who are politically incorrect. This imbalance is a serious problem for law students, who do not get the full range of views in important contemporary debates, and for legal scholarship, which would profit from an unbiased marketplace of ideas. The purpose of this paper is to discuss practical steps that might be taken to achieve a fairer representation of conservatives and libertarians in law schools. These include measures to induce the Association of American Law Schools abide by its professed commitment to viewpoint diversity; to improve viewpoint diversity at individual schools; and efforts directed at law schools generally.This paper is based on a presentation at a conference, Intellectual Diversity and the Legal Academy, held at Harvard Law School on April 5, 2013. It is scheduled to be published in a symposium issue of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.