Rittenhouse Facing Leftists At College

The Left is trying to keep Kyle Rittenhouse out of college. But he won’t be bullied by communists. Law Professor Jonathan Turley fills us in.

Disgusting that people are trying to prevent Kyle Rittenhouse from entering college. But history does repeat itself, and @ACLUofKY came after me, so what did you expect?

— Nicholas Sandmann (@N1ckSandmann) November 30, 2021

Turley: President Joe Biden and media figures are not the only ones who are “angry” after a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of five charges stemming from his fatal shooting two men and the wounding of a third during rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.

Many are using the verdict as an excuse to denounce the entire legal system as racist, even though the makeup of the Rittenhouse jury – 11 Whites and one African American – is identical to the jury that recently convicted three men in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Critics also ignore that much of the coverage of the Rittenhouse case ignored evidence supporting his claim of self-defense.

Now students and groups at Arizona State University are planning a rally against Rittenhouse and demanding that he be expelled. Demands for such extrajudicial punishments may seem legitimate to critics of the verdict with leaders like Biden calling Rittenhouse a “white supremacist” before any investigation was completed and legal analysts calling the entire trial “white supremacy on steroids.” Rittenhouse is likely to face such campaigns to bar him from any campus as he seeks to continue his education.

Students groups like MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán), Students for Socialism, Students for Justice in Palestine and the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition are organizing a rally this week to “get murderer Kyle Rittenhouse off [the] campus.” He is not on campus since he was enrolled as an online student (Indeed, he may not be currently enrolled for any classes at ASU). Students and faculty are being called to the rally to “protect students from a violent, blood-thirsty murderer.”

In addition, ASU student Taskina Bhuiya started a Change.org petition to denounce the verdict and to call for Rittenhouse to be “held accountable for the crimes he has committed.” Without a sense of irony, the petition declares, “ASU should be a safe and inclusive place for all students, which will be disrupted if Kyle Rittenhouse is allowed to attend this school.” Inclusive unless you are an acquitted individual who must be “held accountable.” Hundreds have signed the petition insisting that “Rittenhouse should pay for his crimes.”

The campaign reflects a growing sense that the legal system is only worthy of respect (or even protection) if it rules in the way that we demand. It is the same mentality that has led members of Congress, law professors, and others to demand the expansion or restriction of the Supreme Court because it now has a conservative majority. Liberal justices like the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer have opposed such efforts as inimical to the rule of law.

Universities have long been dominated by liberal faculty but a new orthodoxy has emerged. Conservative students often feel that access to education is conditioned on their silent adherence to compelled values and language. That is if they are even allowed to attend such schools in the first place.