SUPREME COURT Justice Ruth Ginsburg Supports Due Process For the College Accused
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg thinks colleges and universities are violating the due process rights of students facing sexual misconduct charges. The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Rosen asked the Court’s second-ever female justice for her thoughts…Rosen: What about due process for the accused? Ginsburg: ‘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. 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’..Note that Ginsburg was asked about due process, but not campuses specifically. The fact that she immediately suggested college codes of conduct as an example of a policy that sometimes violates “the basic tenets of our system,” says a great deal about the glaring unfairness of the modern approach to Title IX, the federal statute that requires universities to investigate sexual harassment and assault. And Ginsburg didn’t just make note of the controversy; she explicitly said critics of the current procedures have a point.
reason.com By Robby Soave
