The American Bar Association must see a potential goldmine in campus sexual assault adjudication, as it has recently adopted three resolutions guaranteed to bring in future clients.
At the ABA’s annual meeting on Tuesday, delegates passed three resolutions addressing sexual assault. And despite the organization being full of lawyers, due process was only added to one of those resolutions after George Washington University Law School professor Stephen Saltzburg requested it. And even then, it was given only passing reference in the last sentence.
“Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local, tribal and territorial governments to adopt meaningful remedies and vigorous enforcement mechanisms, including civil remedies, for sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, gender-based violence and intimate partner violence, while assuring that the rights of those accused of such acts are recognized, respected and protected; and to fully fund implementation of such remedies and enforcement,” the resolution stated. (Emphasis added.)
What specific rights the accused students have is not explained. The fewer rights accused students have, the more likely they will be expelled, and the more likely they will sue their schools for violating their due process rights. And for that they will need the help of a lawyer. Accusers are also likely to sue if the school doesn’t expel a student for them, even if there was no evidence to suggest a crime occurred.
We’ve seen before that accusers who sue their schools reach settlements nearing $1 million or more. That’s a big payday for the lawyers representing them. Conversely, accused students who receive settlements can at best hope to have their legal bills paid and their transcripts cleaned (though Google searches will still brand them as rapists).
The rest of the resolution describes what rights accusers have, including the adoption of policies that “respond to the needs” of those who accuse. And of course, the term “victim” is used throughout, rather than “accuser” or “complainant.”
The second resolution allows lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals to obtain civil protection orders for intimate partner, sexual, stalking and dating violence offenses.
The third resolution “recognizes freedom from domestic, dating and sexual violence and stalking and all other forms of gender-based violence as a fundamental human right.”
Sure, freedom from terrible things is a human right. But due process is also recognized as a fundamental human right. And yet colleges across the country are dismissing or eviscerating that right in the name of political correctness.
