Biden Claimed He Was In Top Half Of Law ClassSen. Joe Biden claimed during a campaign appearance in New Hampshire last spring
that he finished in the top half of his law school class, although records indicate he finished near the bottom. In a videotape aired by the public service cable network C-SPAN several months ago, the Delaware Democrat was asked at a campaign stop in Claremont, N.H., on April 3 about what law school he attended and how well he did.
On the videotape, a clearly angered Biden told the questioner:
″I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do.″The first year in law school I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay
and went back to law school and in fact ended up in the top half of my class,″ he went on.
But last week Biden released his law school records showing he had graduated 76th in a law school class of 85.
The law school transcript also showed he made little progress in class standing through the three-year course, ranking 80 out of 100 in the first semester of the first year, and 79th out of 87 the second semester of his second year. Biden has been deviled about questions in the last 10 days about his law school career and his use of others’ words in his speeches without credit.
He revealed last week that he committed plagiarism in law school and took a course over to make up for the error.
In the videotape, Biden went on to say, ″I went to (Syracuse) law school on a full academic scholarship.″
The records he released last week indicated he had a $800 scholarship from the school out of a total tuition of $1,620 as well as $1,000 in room and board from his work as a residence adviser in a dorm and student loans.
″I won the international moot-court competition. ... I was the outstanding student in the poitical science department (as an undergraduate). ... I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school ... And I’d be delighted to sit back and compare my IQ to yours if you’d like, Frank,″ Biden told the questioner. The tape was aired April 10 and 12 as part of the network’s ″Road to the White House″ series, C-SPAN spokeswoman Nan Gibson said.
Newsweek magazine said Biden does not mention the moot court competition on his resume,
and did not win the political science award at University of Delaware, where he received a single B.A. in political science and history.