No Discrimination Talk Allowed
Normally anyone who raises an instance of race discrimination will find a sympathetic ear in California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu. But not Peter Kirsanow, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. During a House Judiciary hearing Thursday about diversity on the federal bench, Mr. Kirsanow dared to mention Harvard’s treatment of Asian-American applicants—and an angry Rep. Lieu quickly moved to silence him.
“Stop bringing in irrelevant issues, there are more Asian Americans at these Ivy Leagues than in the federal judiciary—they’re unrepresented. These are different issues happening,” he snapped at Mr. Kirsanow, and we mean snapped.
Mr. Kirsanow had brought up Harvard’s admissions in the course of agreeing that Asian-Americans are underrepresented in the judiciary. His point is that a disproportionate number of federal judges come from elite schools such as Harvard, so the more Asian-Americans who are kept out of that pipeline, the fewer will end up on the federal bench. Mr. Lieu also claimed that Mr. Kirsanow mentioned Harvard to distract from the issue of discrimination. But the Congressman’s overheated reaction suggests the truth is the opposite.
Read the full story from the Wall Street Journal here.