US Judge Won’t Hire Clerks Who Signed Letters After Hamas Attack

A federal judge has said that he won’t hire law clerks who have signed onto letters that he believes effectively support Hamas’ deadly attacks in Israel.

Judge Matthew Solomson of the US Court of Federal Claims made the statement in an Oct. 11 LinkedIn post.

“To me, it’s a simple proposition that just like no judge would hire anyone who endorsed the KKK or the Nazis, anyone who endorses or approves or otherwise gives comfort to — in writing — Hamas, should not be hired,” the judge said in an Oct. 13 interview.

“If you sign on to a letter that, in essence, supports the actions of Hamas, you’re out as far as I’m concerned. And if you don’t agree with what the organization said, then in this case, resign.”

Solomson’s comments comes as law students face criticism for signing onto statements viewed as blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks, prompting at least one law firm to withdraw a job offer as a result.

Solomson said that his stance is a moral one, and not an attempt to police political disagreements. He said he could not work with an individual who would sign onto a statement that backed Hamas.

“I refuse to credential anyone who supports or even remotely sympathizes with terror in the form of a modern day pogrom,” Solomson wrote in his post. “This is not an unfair or hyperbolic Nazi comparison.”

A spokesperson for the federal judiciary declined to comment.

‘A Big Difference’

Judges on the 16-member court, which hears cases involving claims for money against the federal government, serve for 15-year terms, according to the court’s website.

Solomson, who described himself as Orthodox Jewish, was appointed by then-President Donald Trump to the federal claims court in 2020. He previously led the government contracts practice group within Booz Allen Hamilton’s in-house law department and had earlier worked as an attorney at Sidley Austin and Arnold & Porter, according to his court website biography.

His biography says he enjoys studying the Talmud, the collection of Jewish religious law, but the judge said his religious beliefs play no role in how he rules from the bench.

Solomson said that he will not go out of his way to determine whether applicants for his clerkships were part of student groups that signed such statements. He said that he will raise the issue only if it is brought to his attention.

He also said that he recognizes that students can make statements that they later regret.

“I think students should be given the grace to say that they were sorry, that they thought about it more and changed their mind, or otherwise regret the view they expressed, and certainly that kind of change of heart should be taken into account,” Solomson said.

The judge said the reaction to his posts has been positive. Solomson said his posts on LinkedIn condemning the Hamas attacks in Israel have been his first on social media since being confirmed nearly four years ago. He said he has been careful to stay away from politics in his comments, and that other judges have told him his statements are within the ethics rules for sitting jurists.

“Thankfully, a number of my colleagues have told me that I didn’t even need to say it, because it would never cross their mind to hire someone who is a member of an organization that would sign on to such a letter,” Solomson said.

Solomson quoted one message of support from another judge in an Oct. 12 LinkedIn post.

“I imagine that no judge, federal or state, would be interested in associating with anyone who supports the barbarism, racial hatred, and terrorism we have witnessed these past few days,” the other judge wrote.

Other Consequences

Law students have already faced other consequences for publicly stating positions related to the Hamas attacks.

Winston & Strawn rescinded a job offer for a summer associate over comments in a New York University law school newsletter, and student groups at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania have also been criticized for similar statements.

Judges hire law clerks at their own discretion, and some have said they won’t hire certain law students based on campus free speech concerns.

Judge James Ho of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Elizabeth Branch of the Eleventh Circuit have both said they would not hire law students from Yale and Stanford law schools, following incidents at those institutions where conservative speakers faced campus blowback from progressives.

Solomson said he wasn’t thinking of those recent announcements when he made his post. He said he isn’t in favor of rejecting students from certain law schools, saying he didn’t think punishing students for unpopular decisions by schools is the right answer.

“There’s just a big difference between saying someone should quit Stanford, Yale and go to a different school and saying that you should resign from a student organization,” Solomson said.