In Honor of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Because superlatives have trended on all social platforms to describe the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we would like to honor her focusing on one of the themes inherent to her transcendence: When Justice Ginsburg spoke, she consistently harmonized the human experience with the rule of law. Case in point, her legal facility naturally had her, a woman who could not get hired out of law school because of her sex, believe that men are entitled to fairness when facing disciplinary action in school because of sexual misconduct — a claim most often levied by another woman. While this law firm has been arguing that right for years, our argument came as an organic and slowly constructed “a ha!” moment after seeing schools’ Title IX offices suddenly become inquisitions. In contrast, Justice Ginsburg held the same view automatically.
On Monday February 12, 2018 Justice Ginsburg visited Philadelphia and attended events both at Penn Law School and at the National Constitution Center where she was interviewed, impromptu, about the rights of the students we defend here — those students responding to sexual misconduct in school.
Justice Ginsburg, the feminist hero, made the status of male respondents to sexual misconduct clear:
Jeffrey Rosen, who still leads the NCC, asked Justice Ginsburg:
“What about due process for the accused?”
And Justice Ginsburg’s ex-cathedra answer should guide everyone interacting with any form of disciplinary system (as well as the design and implementation of that system):
“Well, that must not be ignored and it goes beyond sexual harassment. The person who is accused has a right to defend herself or himself, and we certainly should not lose sight of that. Recognizing that these are complaints that should be heard. There’s been criticism of some college codes of conduct for not giving the accused person a fair opportunity to be heard, and that’s one of the basic tenets of our system, as you know, everyone deserves a fair hearing.”
Fair hearings for students facing sexual misconduct in college have now become enshrined in the law. They are a fundamental part of the New Title IX Rules (Read more about that here https://www.studentmisconduct.com/news/the-new-title-ix-rules-nt9rs-make-it-better-for-everyone-its-more-like-a-courtroom and here https://www.studentmisconduct.com/news/a-primer-on-the-new-title-ix-rules-nt9rs ) and they are also the requirement under a number of Federal Appellate Court decisions, significantly for those in the Pennsylvania region, a case called John Doe v. University of the Sciences (Read more about that case here https://www.studentmisconduct.com/news/after-doe-v-university-of-the-sciences-what-rights-do-men-responding-to-sexual-misconduct-in-pennsylvania-new-jersey-or-delaware-colleges-and-universities-have ). But the shame is that those changes, which reflect a view Justice Ginsburg expressed as available to everyone back in 2018, came at a high cost — litigation and careers ruined.
As Justice Ginsburg pointed out, her view was not unusual, but rather harmonic:
Rosen:
“I think people are hungry for your thoughts about how to balance the values of due process against the need for increased gender equality.”
Justice Ginsburg:
“It’s not one or the other. It’s both. We have a system of justice where people who are accused get due process, so it’s just applying to this field what we have applied generally.”
Recalling and restating the superlative nature of Justice Ginsburg’s legal thought enhances life for everyone.
The entire video of that event is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN7rhjPBFts
Raul Jauregui
Jauregui Law Firm
I am an attorney and I defend mostly respondents of sexual misconduct in colleges or universities. This is absolutely not my legal opinion or my legal advice, but rather, suggestions on how to protect your family’s college students in this Coronavirus national emergency. If you’re in this situation, in any way, consult a lawyer now.
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