US judge boycotting Columbia law clerks asked to recuse from protest case
By Nate Raymond
Sept 13 (Reuters) -A federal judge in North Dakota has been asked to recuse himself from a lawsuit pursued by current and former Columbia Law School faculty concerning protests over the Dakota Access oil pipeline after he and 12 other judges said they would boycott hiring law clerks from the school.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor in Bismarck and several other judges appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump in May said they would not hire Columbia graduates as clerks because its New York campus had become an "incubator of bigotry" during pro-Palestinian demonstrations over Israel's war in Gaza.
In a motion on Thursday, lawyers affiliated with Columbia Law School's Initiative for a Just Society argued that the boycott showed Traynor could no longer impartially preside over a case they are pursuing concerning the closure of part of a highway during 2016-2017 protests over the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
"A reasonable observer would harbor doubts about Judge Traynor's impartiality in adjudicating any case represented by Columbia Law School faculty," the lawyers argued.
They said it was "not just any case" either, as it concerned a law enforcement response to protest activities, which the plaintiffs contend was overzealous.
They contrasted those claims with the letter Traynor signed, which called for more severe enforcement against those who participated in the highly-publicized demonstrations on Columbia's campus in the spring.
Traynor did not respond to a request for comment.
The motion to have him recuse himself from the case is one of the first known to have been filed nationally based on the 13 judges' Columbia clerk hiring boycott.
The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Judicial Council in August dismissed a misconduct complaint against eight of the judges in the boycott, including U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho, by a prisoner who accused them of political bias.
The proposed class action was filed in 2018 by two members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and a priest in2020 against various state officials; Morton County, where the tribe's reservation is located; and TigerSwan, a private security company for pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners.
The lawsuit alleged that a five-month closure of a part of the highway during large-scale protests against the Dakota Access pipeline unduly restricted travel and violated the plaintiffs' free speech and religious rights.
The plaintiffs' pro bono lawyers include Noah Smith-Drelich, a former lecturer at Columbia now at Chicago-Kent College of Law, and Bernard Harcourt, a Columbia professor and founding director of its Initiative for a Just Society.
Traynor has presided over the case since 2020. While he dismissed claims against various state officials last year, the case remains pending against Morton County and TigerSwan, which deny wrongdoing.
The case is Thunderhawk v. County of Morton, North Dakota, et al, U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, No. 18-cv-00212.
For the plaintiffs: Noah Smith-Drelich of Chicago-Kent College of Law, Amy Knight of Phillips Black and Bernard Harcourt of Columbia Law School
For Morton County: Randall Bakke of Bakke Grinolds Wiederholt
For Tigerswan: Aubrey Zuger of Fredrikson & Byron
Read more:
US judges cleared of misconduct over Columbia clerk hiring boycott
US judiciary to consider new ethical guidance for law clerk hiring
Conservative US judges boycott Columbia grads over campus Gaza protests
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston
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