The
Skadden
Fellowships
have
been
a
pretty
big
deal
for
the
last
37
years.
Fellows
have
done
a
lot
of
good
over
the
years,
improving
legal
services
for
the
poor
and
encouraging
economic
independence
being
chief
among
them.
They’ve
worked
for
programs
like
the
NAACP
Legal
Defense
and
Educational
Fund,
Immigration
and
Disability
Rights
projects,
and
the
LGBTQ
&
HIV
Project
at
the
ACLU
in
New
York,
NY.
Nice
while
it
lasted,
huh?
The
writing
has
been
on
the
wall
since
the
firm
bent
the
knee
to
an
administration
that
thinks
vaccines
and
due
process
are
woke
nonsense.
Kathleen
Rubenstein
recently
resigned
from
her
position
of
Executive
Director
of
the
Skadden
Foundation,
sharing
that
she’d
rather
not
endorse
actions
that
[she]
believe[s]
will
undermine
its
mission.
Susan
Plum
quickly
took
over
as
Skadden’s
interim
executive
director
and
she
appears
to
share
none
of
those
qualms.
Reuters
has
coverage:
The
Skadden
Foundation,
a
public
interest
law
fellowship
program
entirely
funded
by
law
firm
Skadden
Arps,
has
altered
its
application
criteria
to
remove
language
related
to
racial
justice
and
other
topics
that
became
flashpoints
for
U.S.
law
firms
under
the
Trump
administration.
…
The
Skadden
Foundation’s
website
now
includes
new
language,
saying
applicants
should
work
at
a
“strong,
nonpartisan
host
organization.”
Yeah,
quick
question,
what
in
the
actual
fuck
is
a
“strong,
nonpartisan
host
organization”?
The
glib
answer
is
to
say
“whatever
host
organization
Trump
likes,”
but
let’s
take
a
moment
to
break
the
words
down.
With
this
administration
cutting
through
norms
and
the
incessant
politicization
of
everything,
what
could
qualify
as
both
strong
and
nonpartisan?
An
internship
at
the
NAACP
would
get
immediately
sidelined
as
“too
woke”
and
interning
at
the
ACLU’s
LGBTQ
&
HIV
Project
wouldn’t
be
far
behind,
but
could
you
even
do
something
“neutral”
like
advocating
for
voting
rights,
democracy
or
the
rule
of
law
without
getting
accused
of
supporting
an
anti-Trump
liberal
agenda?
In
the
spirit
of
full
transparency,
I
did
a
quick
search
on
Google
to
see
if
there
was
some
obvious
example
of
a
“strong
nonpartisan
host
organization”
that
I
was
just
failing
to
think
of.
Here’s
what
happened:
Do
you
mean
to
tell
me
that
the
“I
make
up
answers
machine”
known
for
just
making
things
up
couldn’t
even
bother
to
make
something
up?
So
what’s
left
of
the
Skadden
Fellowship
program
after
you
remove
all
of
the
commitments
to
racial
justice
and
equity,
and
stop
caring
about
the
“deep
connections
with
or
insights
into
the
marginalized
client
communities
[that
Fellows]
seek
to
serve?
As
Susan
Plum
would
tell
it,
everything.
In
a
statement
posted
to
the
Skadden
Fellowship
website
she
states
that
“[T]he
Foundation’s
mission
has
remained
constant:
empowering
the
most
talented
and
driven
public
interest
lawyers
to
serve
those
living
in
poverty
across
America”.
The
language
is
nice,
but
how
do
you
meaningfully
serve
those
living
in
poverty
when
the
guy
calling
the
shots
is
the
same
dude
who
thought
providing
relief
from
a
category
4
hurricane
meant
throwing
paper
towels
at
a
crowd?
Whatever
that
service
will
look
like,
Skadden
did
a
good
job
of
making
sure
“conservative
ideas”
will
play
a
role:
Skadden
had
agreed
that
its
fellows
would
“represent
a
wide
range
of
political
views,
including
conservative
ideals,”
Trump
said
in
a
March
28
post
on
his
Truth
Social
platform.
Just
so
we
aren’t
kidding
ourselves,
let’s
take
a
quick
look
at
how
“serving
those
who
live
in
poverty”
and
“conservative
ideals”
plays
out
in
the
real
world:
Lordie
there
is
a
tape:
https://t.co/9ayxRF7n0L
pic.twitter.com/ocOXoBC8VM—
Rep.
Malcolm
Kenyatta
(@malcolmkenyatta)
June
11,
2025
Non-rhetorical,
pragmatic
question:
how
do
you
“serve
those
who
live
in
poverty”
without
challenging
the
real
world
policy
consequences
of
what
Republican
leaders
and
Fox
TV
personalities
advocate
for?
The
prior
iterations
of
the
Skadden
Fellowship
program
didn’t
have
all
of
the
answers,
but
they
had
the
institutional
support
and
funding
to
do
some
of
the
good
work
required
to
help
people
in
need.
Now
that
the
firm
is
more
committed
to
keeping
Donald
Trump
happy
than
equity,
I’m
not
really
sure
what
is
ahead
of
them.
As
much
as
I’d
like
to
say
good
on
Kathleen
for
resigning,
the
Fellowship
program
needs
someone
like
her
right
now.
Until
that
happens,
it’s
just
a
countdown
until
we
see
a
slew
of
Skadden
Fellows
working
at
the
Heritage
Foundation.
Skadden
Law
Firm
Fellowship
Revamps
Application
To
Omit
‘Racial
Justice,’
‘Equity’
[Reuters]
Earlier:
Director
Of
Prestigious
Skadden
Fellows
Program
Resigns
Over
Firm’s
Pro
Bono
Payola
Deal
With
Trump
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.