Insights & News

This is a terrifying yet very real case study in how easily universities and other schools use Title IX to abuse the Constitutional rights of students accused of sexual misconduct including denying due process, the right to confront and question an accuser, and the right against self-incrimination. When former Houston Texan football player Keith Murphy was a student at Michigan State University, a female student he knew accused him of sexually assaulting her. Under Title IX the school was required to investigate or risk losing federal funds. Operating (initially) without an attorney, Murphy voluntarily provided text message evidence of a […]

In 2015 the Supreme Court struck down the sign ordinance of the small town of Gilbert, Arizona. In that case, a pastor of a local church sued to overturn the town’s regulations of signs that preferred specific types of signs over the church’s signs. The Supreme Court agreed with the pastor and in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, it held that when a sign ordinance is not content neutral, i.e. when what is printed on the sign will have some effect on whether or not it is allowed or given special treatment, then the ordinance must meet the high burden […]

The story is becoming increasingly familiar: a college student is accused of violating a school conduct policy and then railroaded through a disciplinary process without anything approaching traditional notions of due process. When the allegations involve sexual misconduct or sex-based discrimination under Title IX, the proceedings are often even more skewed against the accused. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, said that the University of Cincinnati went too far when it denied an accused student’s right to cross-examine his accuser. In Doe v. University of Cincinnati, a college student, identified as John Doe, was accused of violating the student […]