Heads of Northwestern legal clinics sue House committee over records demand

The leaders of two Northwestern University law clinics are suing the House Education and the Workforce Committee and their own university to prevent the turning over of records the panel requested of the school.  

Last month, the GOP-controlled committee sent a letter requesting details of the budgets and guidance at the university’s legal clinics, accusing the centers of funding “left-wing advocacy” and chastising pro-Palestinian clients the centers have.  

“The Committee has demanded that Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law and its Bluhm Legal Clinic produce information about how they teach their students, represent their clients, and fund their work. The effort is part of the federal government’s ongoing attack on academic freedom, legal professionals, and the rule of law,” the Wednesday lawsuit reads.  

The lawsuit was filed by Sheila Bedi, director of the university's Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic, and Lynn Cohn, co-director of Northwestern’s Center on Negotiation, Mediation and Restorative Justice.

The House Education Committee had given the university until Thursday to comply with the records request.  

“The Letter reflects a bare desire to harm Plaintiffs for their association with ‘left-wing’ causes that the Committee does not like and for the protected speech reflected in their ‘progressive,’ ‘left’ advocacy," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit wants a judge to declare the committee letter unconstitutional and enjoin the university from producing any documents.  

The Hill has reached out to the committee for comment.  

The lawsuit comes the same day reports have come in that the federal government is pausing $790 million in funding for Northwestern.