Georgetown Law professor who said Biden was picking a 'lesser Black woman' for Supreme Court resigns after 4 months

• Ilya Shapiro tweeted that Biden would pick a "lesser Black woman" as Supreme Court justice in January.
• Georgetown Law reinstated his role on June 2 after an investigation and monthslong suspension.

A Georgetown University Law Center professor who tweeted that President Joe Biden would pick a "lesser Black woman" for the Supreme Court resigned on Monday after four months in his job.

Ilya Shapiro drew widespread criticism in January after he said Biden would cow to identity politics when nominating a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyers, who announced his retirement in January.

Shapiro wrote in now-deleted tweets that Biden's "best pick" was Sri Srinivasan, the chief justice of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, but that he "doesn't fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman."

William Treanor, the dean of Georgetown Law, said at the time the remarks were "appalling" and Georgetown students later occupied an auditorium to demanded Shapiro's removal.

Shapiro was set to start his job as a lecturer at Georgetown Law on February 1, but he was immediately placed on administrative leave while the university investigated his remarks.

Shapiro apologized for the tweets amid the backlash, calling his comments "inartful."

Georgetown Law concluded its investigation and reappointed Shapiro to his role on June 2, but he ended up quitting on Monday, he wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed announcing his resignation.

"Dean William Treanor cleared me on the technicality that I wasn't an employee when I tweeted, but the [report's findings] implicitly repealed Georgetown's Speech and Expression Policy and set me up for discipline the next time I transgress progressive orthodoxy," he wrote.

"Instead of participating in that slow-motion firing, I'm resigning."

In a follow-up tweet posted Monday, Shapiro called Georgetown Law "a place that doesn't value free speech."

"In the name of DEI, it stifles intellectual diversity, undermines equal opportunity, and excludes dissenting voices," he said, using the acronym for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

A Georgetown Law spokesperson told Insider: "Georgetown urges members of our community to engage in robust and respectful dialogue. Our speech and expression policy promotes free and open inquiry, deliberation, and debate and does not prohibit speech based on the person presenting ideas or the content of those ideas, even when those ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable."

"While we protect speech and expression, we work to promote civil and respectful discourse. In reviewing Mr. Shapiro's conduct, the University followed the regular processes for members of the Law Center staff."

Biden ultimately picked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Breyers on the Supreme Court when he retires this summer. Jackson will be the first Black woman in US history to serve on the Supreme Court.