Northwestern law school defeats lawsuit alleging anti-white faculty hiring

By Karen Sloan

Jan 22 (Reuters) - Northwestern University’s law school has persuaded a federal judge in Chicago to reject claims by a conservative group that the school discriminates against white men in faculty hiring.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis on Wednesday agreed to dismiss the lawsuit brought by a nonprofit organization called Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences (FASORP). The group is represented by prominent conservative attorney Jonathan Mitchell and by America First Legal, which was co-founded by Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

FASORP first sued the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in July 2024, alleging it refused to consider hiring white male faculty candidates with “stellar credentials” while hiring other “mediocre” candidates from diverse racial and gender backgrounds.

Ellis did not explain her reasons for dismissing the case. Northwestern had argued that FASORP did not have grounds to sue because the members it says were passed over for faculty jobs lacked the necessary credentials and had not actually applied.

Mitchell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday, nor did a Northwestern spokesperson.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three unnamed FASORP members who alleged they are ready and willing to apply for faculty posts at Northwestern's law school but cannot compete because they are white men.

The suit also accused Northwestern’s flagship law review of discriminating against white men in the selection of articles that appear in its pages.

FASORP in court papers called hiring at American universities a “cesspool of corruption and lawlessness” that flouts anti-discrimination law in favor of women and minorities.

The decision is the latest in a series of court setbacks for conservative legal groups targeting law schools, including unsuccessful discrimination cases against the Harvard Law Review in 2018 and the NYU Law Review in 2023.

FASORP also sued the Michigan Law Review for discrimination in June but voluntarily dismissed the case in October.

Read more:

Northwestern law school sued for discrimination against white men in faculty hiring

Conservative group ends discrimination lawsuit against Michigan Law Review