Who is Pamela Karlan? Stanford professor who dragged Barron Trump into impeachment inquiry joins Biden's DOJ
A law professor serving on Facebook’s independent oversight board was roped in to serve as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the civil rights division for President Joe Biden's administration. She will be resigning her post on the board to join the Justice Department’s civil rights division on Monday.
Pamela Karlan, a Stanford Law professor was chosen as one of the group’s 20 original members. She has been tapped to serve as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the civil rights division for the Biden administration, the board announced. At DOJ civil rights, Karlan will work closely with civil rights leader Kristen Clarke, who is Biden's nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
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Melania Trump lashes out at Stanford professor for dragging son Barron's name in impeachment hearing
“Pam Karlan’s legal and civil rights expertise played an important part in shaping the Board and we’re grateful for her contributions,” board spokesperson John Taylor said in a statement. “The Trustees and Board members congratulate Pam on her new role and wish her the very best.”
Karlan said in a statement that working with the board “to build a fairer and more effective approach to content moderation has been an honor.” She had reportedly earlier gone on leave from her position with Facebook to volunteer for Joe Biden’s transition team, Taylor said, and had no involvement in any of the cases the group has already ruled on, nor its new case over former President Donald Trump’s suspension.
Karlan is a renowned legal scholar with expertise in voting rights and drew national attention for testifying in a House Judiciary Committee hearing over Trump’s impeachment in 2019. During this, she made remarks against Trump's son Barron Trump, which became viral in no time. “Contrary to what President Trump has said, Article 2 [of the Constitution] does not give him the power to do anything he wants. The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron,” Karlan had said.
Her testimony garnered a lot of attention for these remarks. Melania Trump even took to Twitter to condemn her. “A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics,” she had written on Twitter at the time. “Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it,” the tweet continued.
At the time, she received flak from several Republicans. Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz had said, "When you try to make a little joke out of referencing Barron Trump, that does not lend credibility to your argument. It makes you look mean and like you’re attacking someone’s family, the minor child of the President of the United States.” Trump's former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had said in a statement, "Only in the minds of crazed liberals is it funny to drag a 13-year-old child into the impeachment nonsense. Pamela Karlan thought she was being clever and going for laughs, but she instead reinforced for all Americans that Democrats have no boundaries when it comes to their hatred of everything related to President Trump."
A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it.
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) December 4, 2019
Toward the end of the hearing, Karlan apologized for the mention of Barron. “I want to apologize for mentioning the president’s son, it was wrong for me to do that,” she said.
When speaking to the American Constitution Society in 2006 she said, “we have to seize back the high ground on patriotism and on love of our country, because we have more reason than they do to love America”. She continued, “The rich, pampered, prodigal, sanctimonious, incurious, white, straight sons of the powerful do pretty well everywhere in the world, and they always have. But what about us? Snarky, bisexual, Jewish women who want the freedom to say what we think, read what we want, and love who we do.”
