May
16, 2000
AP
News
The
U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected in a 5-4 ruling the civil
rights section of the 1994 federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),
preventing victims of rape from suing their attackers in federal
court.
Chief
Justice William Rehnquist, who authored the majority opinion,
declared that VAWA wrongly stepped on states' authority to
enforce the Constitution's equal-protection provision, affirming
the appeals court's decision that victims of such violent,
gender-based crimes should not be permitted to sue for damages
in federal civil cases.
Rehnquist
wrote "Petitioners' assertion that there is pervasive bias
in various state justice systems against victims of
gender-motivated violence is supported by a voluminous
congressional record. However, the Fourteenth Amendment places
limitations on the manner in which Congress may attack
discriminatory conduct."
Justice
Breyer wrote the dissenting opinion, in which Stevens, Souter
and Ginsburg joined.
Last
Spring, in Brzonkala v. Morrison, the 4th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Christy Brzonkala, who
brought civil charges against Antonio J. Morrison and James
Landale for rapes that occurred in 1994 in a dormitory at the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
This
defeat is a major setback for protecting women against violence.
Until now, the Civil Rights Remedy of the Violence Against Women
Act allowed victims to collect for medical expenses and lost
wages in civil suits. The Supreme Court decision against this
provision leaves women with no federal civil legal remedy for
damages they suffer because of violent attacks.
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