Few Recall Gorsuchs Volunteer Work at Harvard

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Joe.My.God:

Wall Street Journal Questions Trump’s Claim That His SCOTUS Nominee Gave Legal Aid To Poor And Prisoners

Few Recall Gorsuch’s Volunteer Work at Harvard

By Beth Reinhard and Jess Bravin

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Feb. 5, 2017 8:01 p.m. ET

When President Donald Trump introduced his Supreme Court pick on live television last week, he said Neil Gorsuch had “demonstrated a commitment to helping the less fortunate” by working in the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Harvard Defenders.

His affiliation with these volunteer programs—which offer law school students real-life legal experience representing prison inmates and the poor—helped give Mr. Gorsuch’s deeply conservative résumé a personal touch, and the groups were highlighted in news reports about his nomination.

But roughly three dozen students who participated in the two programs while Mr. Gorsuch was at Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991 said they have no recollection of his involvement.

“If he was active in PLAP I am sure I would remember him,” said Elizabeth Buckley Lewis, who attended Harvard at the same time as Mr. Gorsuch. Now a New York City tax lawyer who advises nonprofits, she said PLAP was her “most meaningful experience” at Harvard.