What happens when the institutions meant to uphold the law produce graduates who reject it entirely? That's the urgent question at the heart of Ilya Shapiro's explosive new book, Lawless: The Miseducation of America's Elites.
Remember when Columbia Law School produced leaders like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Today, Shapiro argues, it produces window-smashing activists who demand finals be canceled because of "distress." Law schools that once taught critical thinking, logical reasoning, and respect for opposing viewpoints now cultivate students who cannot tolerate disagreement and reject the validity of law itself.
These aren't just radical students—they're the future legal elite. The same students who occupy buildings and create illegal encampments will soon be America's judges, district attorneys, prosecutors, constitutional litigators, corporate counsel, and government officials. Shapiro warns that they're already hiring like-minded candidates to staff law firms and government offices, creating an echo chamber where only certain laws get enforced.
Shapiro isn't just observing this crisis—he's lived it. When he posted a controversial tweet while at Georgetown Law, he faced calls for his firing, a four-month investigation, and eventual "clearance" on a technicality that left him vulnerable to future "hostile environment" accusations. Unable to perform his job under these conditions, he resigned and now reveals how the illiberal takeover of legal education is transforming our country from within.
This isn't just about campus politics—it's about the future of American jurisprudence. Shapiro's firsthand experience with the "inquisition" mentality shows how institutional weakness allows mob rule to replace academic freedom. Unless we confront these issues today, Shapiro argues, we'll be living with the consequences for decades as a generation of lawyers trained to reject inconvenient laws takes power.
Lawless is more than a critique—it's a warning and a call to action for anyone concerned about the future of American law and the institutions that shape it.
