Former Duke law professor Erwin Chemerinsky was a frequent analyst of legal events during his tenure in Durham, giving him a very high profile in the Triangle as well as the country. I don’t agree with many of his views, but I’ve always appreciated that the unabashed liberal conducted himself with courtesy and was always willing to rationally discuss and debate his views.
Chemerinsky is now in Los Angeles, putting together the new UC-Irvine law school, following an awkward hiring process that included a public “unhiring” by the president of the university, which was then reversed. The Los Angeles Times, in this glowing piece, reports Chemerinsky already has 18 scholars lined up to work at the new law school.
The embarrassing events of his hiring-unhiring-hiring, purportedly due to objections by conservatives over his liberal views, was uncalled for, in my view. Conservatives certainly would have objected to a strict constructionist being treated that way. Last fall, I discussed the Chemerinsky story on Carolina Journal Radio with George Leef of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. Our discussion of hiring policies based on political views, as well as the creation of yet another law school in California, can be found here. The interview transcript also includes Chemerinsky’s own remarks, made in 2006, about his views on the role of professors and media commentary.
