A federal judge shouted down by protesters at Stanford Law School ripped the behavior of the student body and administrators, saying they were treating their peers like ‘dogs**t.’
Judge Kyle Duncan, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, was invited to speak at Stanford University Thursday by the school’s Federalist Society chapter. However, he was heckled by hundreds of students, who made it impossible for him to deliver his speech.
‘If enough of these kids get into the legal profession, the rule of law will descend into barbarism,’ Duncan told the Washington Free Beacon.
Video footage widely shared on social media shows that the school’s associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Tirien Steinbach, did nothing to quell the disruption as protesters hurled verbal abuse at the judge, which appeared to violate Stanford’s free speech policies.
Instead, Steinbach gave a minutes-long and emotional speech at the event, accusing Duncan of causing ‘harm’ through his work on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The students were particularly angry at Duncan for a 2020 opinion in which he refused to use a transgender sex offender’s preferred pronouns. In comments to the Free Beacon, the judge described the incident as a ‘bizarre therapy session from hell.’
Steinbach repeatedly said she was ‘uncomfortable’ by the anger caused by Duncan’s presence, though she sided with the students, telling Duncan while she ‘wholeheartedly’ welcomed him because she believes in free speech, his speech was ‘abhorrent’ and ‘harmful’ and ‘literally denies the humanity of people.’
She went on to question whether the University’s stated commitment to free speech was worth ‘the pain that this causes and the division that this causes.’
‘You have something so incredibly important to say about Twitter and guns and COVID, then that is worth this impact and the division. . . . When I say is the juice worth the squeeze, that’s what I’m asking. Is this worth it?’ she challenged Duncan.
Duncan was never given the chance to read his prepared remarks. After a hostile Q&A session, he was escorted out the back door by federal marshals, who were there to ‘protect’ him, the Free Beacon reported.
‘Don’t feel sorry for me,’ he told the outlet. ‘I’m a life-tenured federal judge. What outrages me is that these kids are being treated like dogs**t by fellow students and administrators.’
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.