Federal Judge Linked to Trump Gave Award to Law Student for Racist, White Nationalist Paper

Preston Terry Damsky, a law student at the University of Florida, sparked national outrage after winning a top academic award for a paper arguing that the U.S. Constitution was written solely for white people. His essay, presented in a seminar on originalism, claimed that “We the People” excludes nonwhite citizens and called for the revocation of their voting rights and militarized border control.

Disturbingly, the highest grade — and therefore the “book award” — was given by Judge John L. Badalamenti, a Trump-appointed federal judge who led the seminar. His grading and the subsequent award were automatic, based on highest score, but the decision has provoked serious concern about academic judgment, oversight, and the ethics of allowing openly racist and white nationalist content to be legitimized in a university setting.

Damsky later posted antisemitic and white supremacist content on social media, calling for the extermination of Jewish people and advocating a whites-only state. These actions led the University of Florida to issue a trespass order banning him from campus.

This kind of thinking is not just dangerous — it is directly opposed to the principles of human rights, dignity, and equality. It reflects a growing trend of extremist ideologies being legitimized under the guise of “academic freedom,” with real-world consequences for marginalized groups. The use of originalist legal theory to promote racial exclusion undermines the foundational values of a pluralistic democracy and highlights the urgent need for accountability, both in academia and the judiciary.

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Source Links

1. ABA Journal – Law student who argued Constitution protects white people received award

2. Balls & Strikes – Trump Judge Gave Law School Prize to Essay Calling Constitution a Whites-Only Document

3. The Daily Beast – Trump Judge Gave Jew-Hating Neo-Nazi a Coveted Academic Prize

4. The Alligator (University of Florida) – UF law student trespassed from campus after racist, antisemitic social media posts

5. WMNF Tampa Bay – Controversial UF law paper awarded despite backlash over racist claims 

6. iHeart Radio / WDIA – UF student awarded for paper arguing Constitution is only for white people

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