For a number of years, I have been writing about the lack of due process for our students and faculty in cases of alleged sexual harassment or assault in colleges or universities. (For prior columns, click here and here and here). This problem grew far worse under the Obama Administration when Russlynn Ali, then assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, issued a “Dear Colleague” letter that effectively forced schools to strip away basic due process protections from internal proceedings. Various faculties objected, though they were largely ignored by administrators who feared losing federal funds or appearing “soft” on sexual harassment claims. Now, 23 Cornell Law School law professors have signed a letter denouncing such failures in a recent case. Unfortunately, some 41 law professors at Cornell opted not to join in the effort.
Category: Society
In torts, we discussed the long-standing debate over the use of potentially lethal force to protect property. The common law has long barred the use of lethal force to solely protect property given the value of a human life. That issue appears at the heart of a first-degree murder case in Memphis where a store clerk followed a teenager out of a store after the teen allegedly stole a beer. The clerk, Anwar Ghazali, 28, shot and killed Dorian Harris, 17.
Continue reading “Memphis Store Clerk Charged With Murder In Shooting Alleged Shoplifter”
We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in France (here and here and here and here and here and here) and England ( here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). Even the Home Secretary has been accused of hate speech for criticizing immigrant workers. South Africa now appears to have crossed the Rubicon of speech criminalization with a two-year sentence for a white woman, Vicki Momberg, who espoused racist statements in a confrontation with a police officer. The prosecution is being heralded as the start of a new era for speech prosecutions.
Continue reading “South African Sentenced To Two Years For Racist Comments”
There is a new controversy in Great Britain over the expanding criminalization of speech. An arrest has been made after an intensive investigation of napkins left at a Chinese restaurant containing racist language. The napkin was left by a young couple at the Hong Kong Star, a restaurant in Dumfries, Scotland. As vile as the language was on the napkin, the investigation and arrest illustrates the degree to which speech is being criminalized in Great Britain. Warning: this article has profane and racist language below.
Continue reading “Scottish Man Arrested After Leaving Napkin In Restaurant With Racist Language”
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the push for new legislation to Robert Mueller. I supported the appointment of a Special Counsel and still believe that Mueller must be allowed to complete his work. However, this legislation would do little in terms of real protection while putting at risk a major piece of precedent from the Supreme Court.
Here is the column:
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who is a member of the House Oversight Committee, revealed late last week that former Deputy FBI Director was accused of lying not once but four times in the still withheld Inspector General’s report. My column today in the Hill newspaper will discuss this disclosure and the timing of McCabe in securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions through a GoFundMe page.
There is an interesting controversy in New York where people are irate that Brooklyn Museum selected a distinguished academic as curator over its African art collection. Kristen Windmuller-Luna, 31, holds a Ph.D. in African art history from Princeton University and has been a lecturer at Columbia University and Metropolitan Museum of Art. That is a pretty stellar resume but people are focused on one other aspect about Windmuller-Luna . . . she is white. Rather than respond that it does not select curators or artists on the basis of the race, the Museum issued a pleading response that it is seeking to address the complaints. However, the complaint is that, no matter how qualified Windmuller-Luna may be, she should have been barred due to her race from consideration.
Continue reading “Brooklyn Museum Under Fire For Hiring White Curator For African Art Collection”
Happy Easter to all of our bloggers and readers that are celebrating today. The bunny came to the Turley house and left baskets overflowing with chocolates and candies, including a doggie basket for Luna. Leslie made incredible French Toast that was addictive and the kids engaged in the annual trade negotiations over candy assets.
After a year of blaming sexism for her defeat, Hillary Clinton argued this week that people begging her to stop her public appearances are themselves sexist despite former supporters among those objecting to the negative impact that she is having on efforts to regain power. Even her most passionate supporters like Sen. Claire McCaskill have publicly rebuked her. Clinton refuses to acknowledge polls from before her nomination showing that she was the most unpopular candidate to run for president in history. Nevertheless, Democratic members and power brokers forced through the nomination — ultimately losing to the second most unpopular candidate to ever run, Donald Trump. Virtually any other leading Democrat would have likely won the election but Clinton has struggled to blame others — including self-hating women — for her loss.
Continue reading “Clinton: People Calling For Me “To Go Away” Are Sexist”
Faith Linthicum, a labor and delivery nurse at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center in California, has been forced on leave for writing on Facebook that Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police, “deserved it for being stupid.” This is the latest example of employees being fired for expressing their views outside of work, including prior controversies involving nurses. Update: the hospital has fired Linthicum.
Bates College is one of the oldest colleges in New England (and the first to grant a degree to a woman). It has a great legacy and reputation. As is unlikely to surprise many on this blog, one of my favorite things about Bates is its annual AESOP experience, or the Annual Entering Student Outdoor Program. The Outing Club takes first-year students into the gorgeous Maine wilderness for a 4-day, 3-night trip. I was saddened therefore to see an editorial by Justice Geddes in The Bates Student, where he attacked the tradition as an exercise of “white privilege. The article has caused a backlash among conservatives.
Continue reading “Nature Outings At Bates College Are Denounced As “White Privilege””
Below is my column in USA Today on the call of former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens for the repeal of the Second Amendment. It was a moment of honestly that young protesters should heed in fighting for real change. So long as this is a protected individual right, there are serious limits on how much that right can be curtailed. It is time for an honest debate in this country. Stevens called the right a “relic of the 18th Century.” Of course, one person’s relic is another person’s rifle.
Here is the column:
Former Sen. Al D’Amato (R. N.Y.) has demonstrated a single clear rule for anyone going through a nasty divorce or custody fight: do not use your estranged wife’s hospital room to vent your anger as she begs you to stop. A video was released by D’Amato’s wife Katuria Smith that showed D’Amato raving at her as she laid in bed recovering from neck surgery. Warning: the video and discussion involves foul language.
Continue reading “Former Senator Al D’Amato Caught on Videotape In Heated Hospital Scene”
President Donald Trump’s struggle with the Stormy Daniels scandal has become Washington’s version of A Streetcar Named Desire . . . without the gritty charm. Rather than shutdown this litigation over a sordid alleged affair, the President has been left looking like Stanley Kowalski declaring to Blanche DuBois that he has “a lawyer acquaintance” who can “study these out.” For Trump, that “lawyer acquaintance” was Michael Cohen, a fix it lawyer who has become infamous for threatening women connected with Trump with financial and legal ruin. Until, that is, former porn star Stormy Daniels (the Blanche DeBois of this drama) called his bluff. Now, Trump’s fix it man has a fix it man, David Schwartz, who proclaimed that he also has “studied things out” and has threatening both Daniels and her lawyer with ruin. The problem is that Schwartz may have just cratered the case for both his client, Cohen, and Cohen’s client, Trump. Schwartz has finally declared that Trump was never aware of the agreement negotiated for him by Cohen. That could spell serious trouble not only for Cohen but also Trump. Instead of a final scene screaming “Stella!,” it may be “Schwartz!” that is heard throughout Foggy Bottom.
A federal judge issued a surprising decision that allowed part of an emoluments challenge to proceed toward trial. The opinion has been widely misreported, but still represents a rare win for those arguing that President Donald Trump is accepting prohibited payments from foreign governments at the various Trump properties. However, the decision is only on the threshold standing question and did not address the merits of the constitutional claim. Moreover, United States District Judge Peter Messitte dramatically narrowed the action to only claims related to the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. These is considerable debate over the meaning of the Constitution’s “emoluments” clause. There are clearly good-faith arguments that such payments fall within the meaning of the language, but I remain highly skeptical. Even with the much reduced action, I think Messitte is wrong and that the action should have been dismissed in its entirety. Previous actions have been dismissed.
Continue reading “Federal Court Permits Emoluments Challenge To Move Forward”