This week, Ed Martin, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, threatened Georgetown University Law Center over its diversity initiatives. He warned that the office would cease considering law school alumni for government jobs unless the school complied with his demands. In a bold response, Dean William Treanor defended the university’s right to set its own curriculum, emphasizing First Amendment protections. Treanor's letter challenges the misuse of governmental power to influence educational institutions, firmly asserting Georgetown’s Jesuit values centered on justice and dialogue.
Your letter informs me that your office will deny our students and graduates government employment opportunities until you, as Interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, approve of our curriculum. Given the First Amendment's protection of a university's freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the University's mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution.
Using the federal government's hiring power to punish alumni for the sins of their alma maters is an established play by the right.
Martin had good reason to believe Treanor would fold... but the response from Treanor was indeed a robust defense of educational autonomy.
Treanor's letter serves as a unique Kryptonite to conservatives by leaning into the religious institution's First Amendment protections.
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