Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently claimed that certain law schools and colleges were completely \u201coff limits\u201d for him and other conservatives to visit.
\n\u201cYou know, I have never been to Stanford Law School,\u201d Thomas told Peter Robinson during an on-stage discussion hosted by the Hoover Institute.
\nHe went on to say that current conservative thought leaders, like himself, are largely unwelcome from high education institutions like Stanford Law School.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the reality,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThat\u2019s the world we\u2019re in, because there\u2019s certain places that are just presumptively off limits. This is the way it works. And that\u2019s true. I mean, I\u2019ve been to Yale Law School, but that\u2019s the way it works. And to say it isn\u2019t, is to lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
CLARENCE THOMAS WARNS AMERICA: LIBERTY DIES WHEN WE CHOOSE COMFORT OVER COURAGE
\nThe comments from the high court justice came amid ongoing criticism from conservative pundits that college campuses have become intolerant to right-wing ideas and that students are being indoctrinated by liberal professors.
\nThomas alleged that, if not for YouTube, the ideas and works of American economist Thomas Sowell, who profoundly shaped his political views, would be lost to the younger generation of students because some people\u2019s views are \u201cunpalatable\u201d to the student body.
\n\u201cAnd so what these kids are getting is all that stuff [that] is not there,\u201d Thomas said, referring to colleges. \u201cIt\u2019s just on YouTube. It\u2019s available to everybody, and they get to make up their own mind.\u201d
\nA Stanford spokesperson rejected Thomas\u2019 notion that the law school was \u201coff-limits\u201d for him to visit.
\n\u201cWe would be honored to host Justice Thomas at Stanford Law School,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. \u201cThe Stanford Constitutional Law Center, directed by Professor Michael McConnell, former Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, regularly hosts members of the judiciary on campus.\u201d
\n\u201cOur students and faculty would welcome the opportunity to hear from Justice Thomas and engage with his perspectives on the Court, the Constitution, and the law,\u201d the spokesperson continued.<\/p>\n
WATCH: CHAOS ERUPTS AS LEFTISTS INTERRUPT CONSERVATIVE GROUP\u2019S UCLA EVENT FEATURING DHS LAWYER
\nBut in the past couple of years, there have been multiple incidents in which a conservative speaker\u2019s visit to the school was disrupted by student protesters.
\nWhen Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, visited in 2023 to give a presentation titled \u201cCovid, Guns, and Twitter,\u201d he was met with fierce backlash from students affiliated with LGBTQ groups because of his judicial record. The student groups \u2014 OutLaw and Identity and Rights Affirmers for Trans Equality (IRATE) \u2014 repeatedly pressured the hosting organization, Federalist Society, to cancel the event or move it to Zoom.
\nWhen that failed, a group of 90 law students appeared with signs and bullhorns to protest Duncan\u2019s talk, causing major disruptions that made it impossible for Duncan to complete his presentation. Duncan requested assistance and DEI administrator Tirien Steinbach took the podium acknowledging his free speech rights, but siding with the student protesters.
\n\u201cFor many people here, your work has caused harm,\u201d Steinbach said to Duncan. \u201cIs the juice worth the squeeze?\u201d
\nThe incident led Stanford dean Jenny Martinez and president Marc Tessier-Lavigne to issue an apology to Duncan. The school required students to participate in mandatory training and subsequently made the school\u2019s position unusually explicit: protesting Duncan was protected, but preventing an invited speaker from effectively delivering a presentation violated Stanford\u2019s disruption policy.<\/p>\n
DHS LAWYER SAYS UCLA \u2018UTTERLY FAILED\u2019 TO STOP PROTEST CHAOS AT LAW SCHOOL APPEARANCE
\nThree years earlier, when then-Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins visited the law school to host a discussion, twelve student organizations organized a walkout. The groups took issue with Hawkins\u2019 role in litigation to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.
\nJust five minutes into Hawkins\u2019 address, more than three-quarters of the audience left.
\nThomas did not point to either incident during his remarks at the Hoover Institution, nor did he say whether he had ever been invited to speak at Stanford. He did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital\u2019s request for comment.
\nStill, Thomas suggested that the ideological divide he sees within higher education has made engagement between conservatives and some of the nation\u2019s most prominent academic institutions increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on https:\/\/www.foxnews.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"