In the wake of the announced boycott against Columbia University, I posed several questions to Judge Matthew Solomson of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. I provide his answers, with light editing, below:
Q: Shortly after October 7, you announced that you would not hire clerks who signed a letter supporting the Hamas attacks. Why did you make that decision?
The pro-Hamas letter you reference, signed by many Harvard student groups, engaged in extreme victim-blaming, assigning all culpability to Israel for the October 7th Hamas-led massacre. Justifying Hamas's murderous pogrom by saying Israel deserved what it got is nothing less than supporting a terrorist organization – the same as blaming the United States for 9/11. And I simply made the point that supporting Hamas – a terrorist group designated as such by the United States government – is inexcusable and should be disqualifying for a federal clerkship (just as supporting Al-Qaeda or ISIS would be).
