Jennifer and Lee

A federal appeals court recently overturned a decision that had favored Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s intentions to suspend Tom Brady for four games for his alleged involvement in Deflategate will be upheld. When the first court overturned Goodell’s decision to suspend him due to the fact that due process protections were not provided, it was a victory for ALL Americans. Any victory for due process is a victory for us. Until you have been accused of an offense you did not commit, you will not understand why your Constitutional Rights are so important. Once you recognize that it is your right to remain silent, that you do not have to consent to searches, that you have the right to be defended by an attorney, and you have a right to a jury trial, then maybe you will understand why our Founding Fathers drafted the Bill of Rights. Understanding your rights are advantageous to you the law abiding citizen so that you don’t find yourself at the center of a witch hunt. As evidenced and history has shown us, teams of investigators and prosecutors have made mistakes and years later the accused person was exonerated. No system is fool proof but we have our civilian and criminal courts to help ensure that the checks and balances in this country are still in place. Our courts are quite literally in place to prevent federal and state government overreach in our lives.

So what are we doing here? The federal courts upheld Commission Goodell’s punishment against one of his players when in fact it was proven that his due process rights were not protected. What does this mean for the accused and America in general? This decision is yet another advancement of a federal government backed mandate asking our institutions (the NFL, colleges and universities, and our military) to handle felony crime cases with a single investigator model that uses only a preponderance of the evidence (50% or more proof that said criminal action did occur). And who is the common denominator you might ask? Senator Claire McCaskill. McCaskill is at the center of controversy with military rape victims for protecting status quo and continuing to allow military commanders to make decisions about prosecution because they will be “tougher” then prosecutors. She is at the center of the college and university Title IX due process travesties of justice. Instead of listening to victims of crime in the military who want to do away with the single investigator model and use the court systems to obtain justice, she wants to create the same kind of UCMJ model on college campuses. And now we are learning that she has got her grubby paws in the pockets of the likes of Roger Goodell who can now use her tough stance policies on sexual assault and domestic violence to railroad anyone he wants to including Tom Brady for something as ridiculous as Deflategate. Nice work Claire. She is creating kingdoms in her national organizations using law and funding as leverage to get them to comply. Roger Goodell is king of NFL justice, Title IX coordinators are decision making authorities of college discipline procedures, and military Commanders are the final authority on whether or not a case will go to trial despite limited legal qualifications to conduct investigations and make those determinations.

What do all these internal justice systems have in common? They are dealing with both felony crimes and misconduct in general. They all have instituted a single investigator model. They all fall victim to bias, abuse of power, and mistakes because people do not fully understand due process protections and why they are vital to a well functioning society. They are all being accused of not protecting due process rights for both the accused and victims. Military rape victims are for due process because we saw the pendulum swing hard to the right for the accused. Military commanders were accused of blowing off allegations and kicking victims out of the military instead of moving forward with cases that may have solid evidence. We fought hard for laws that would give us some due process protections by removing the Commander from the convening authority position they hold, and giving the power to prosecute to prosecutors like it is done in the civilian courts. Of course we would rather a third party investigator handle the cases but so far we haven’t had any takers. All we have is Kirsten Gillibrand and the military justice improvement act which would restore some level of Constitutional Rights for the troops. It is only one of many steps I will continue to advocate for because due process is just that damn important.

Over on our college campuses, we have campus rape advocates backed up by Claire McCaskill and Gillibrand who fully support the implementation of a new justice system on college campuses administrated by the Title IX office. I find this ironic given Gillibrand is helping military rape victims fight for due process protections in that setting yet on the college campuses, she has joined forces with McCaskill who is eviscerating due process rights for the accused. This comes as no surprise since McCaskill was the same person who blocked the military justice improvement act using fudged data from the Pentagon showing that military commanders are more likely to move forward with prosecutions then prosecutors including civilian prosecutors. What she is basically admitting is that Commanders can move forward with cases that have little or no evidence at all in an effort to show McCaskill how tough they are. That is not what we wanted because this creates paranoia and resentment. We can’t afford that kind of environment in a military setting when we depend on our team to have our backs. We saw the pendulum swing hard in favor of the accused and we do not want the pendulum to swing to the other side in favor of the accuser if due process rights are not protected.

But McCaskill is right, military commanders can do whatever they damn well please and there really isn’t anyone to call them out on it. Since this form of justice works so well for the military, McCaskill wants to create another UCMJ on college campuses where we are now seeing the pendulum swing all the way the other way. Men are now being accused of felony crimes and are accusing the colleges and universities of wrecking their lives both emotionally and financially without even providing them with some basic due process rights like the right to an attorney. This is exactly why military rape victims wanted due process rights for both the accused and accuser. We have witnessed the single investigator model in action for years and it does not work. It can never replace the constitutional rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. How can it? It is usually one person using a preponderance of the evidence to make life altering decisions that in the end don’t help prevent other crimes at all, it just makes that person someone else’s problem.

And now we are learning that the NFL has been given it’s license to act as end all be all authoritarian in cases involved football players. A law pushed to show those who commit sexual assault and domestic violence can now be used as a take down law to go after anyone with no due process protections in mind. Otherwise, we have federal courts authorizing kingdoms to handle whatever bad behavior they want because of wording in a collective bargaining agreement. Is this because the Unions made a deal with Roger Goodell and Congress in relation to misconduct while serving in the NFL? I don’t know. Further research needs to be conducted in this arena. But we do know that McCaskill once again is behind the tough stance in the NFL against those accused of sexual assault and domestic violence. And because the terminology is so broad and vague, the NFL Commissioner can pick and choose who we wants to go after.

Notice Goodell appealed the Tom Brady decision but said nothing as far as the Ray Rice case was concerned. He could have chosen to appeal that decision too but he did not. Why the witch hunt with Brady? Because Goodell has the power to institute his own brand of justice with backing from members of Congress who are in favor of the continued federal government overreach that in their minds trumps due process protections. As someone that has been through a legal matter involving sexual assault, I can say with 100% certainty that the due process rights of the accused were protected and I still won my case because the truth and evidence was on my side. If we do not protect due process rights of the accused, we are risking the entire case being thrown out on appeal, thereby making our original intentions to prosecute null and void. This is a waste of time and taxpayer’s money and if the accused is someone who cannot control their urges to attack, they get a free pass to continue their behavior and harm others.

The NFL, military, and colleges all have a justice system currently that makes it difficult to obtain documentation about why decisions are made. They are all able to hide behind some federal umbrella unlike the civilian court systems who are accountable for their decisions to the American public. But as a result of the accused taking a stand, we now have documentation of what they had to undergo in these campus tribunals and the results are shocking. Many college men have sued their universities/colleges for denying them due process rights and making decisions that impacted their right to an education. And one is even suing the Department of Education for federal government overreach when they published their Dear Colleague letter in 2011 informing college campuses that they must crack down on sexual assault and rape as well. So what we are learning is that their is major push back to the new justice policies created on campuses. Not surprising considering what we have already learned from those who have had to deal with it in the military. There continues to be push back there as well. But the saddest part is that those accused of felony crimes and even punished are only banned from the college. They get kicked off a college campus with no criminal record free to reoffend those in the community which is exactly what the US military is being accused of. Kicking out an offender with a back door deal like adultery or some generalized misconduct charge does nothing to stop the problem of rape and sexual assault in America if we isolate the punishment of crimes to the individual institutions who do not have due process policies in place. So in fact, McCaskill helps these institutions hide the information regarding these felony cases unless someone fights back in the civilian courts. Quite often the accused and accuser don’t understand their due process protections and would prefer not to fight or can’t afford to fight. Justice is not served if due process rights are not protected.

Tom Brady’s deflategate decision by a federal court is the latest in a long line of controversial actions taken on behalf of the federal government. First we had McCaskill and her cronies block due process protections in the military in 2013. Then we saw the federal overreach creep of Title IX when it comes to handling cases of violent crime with little or no due process protections in mind. Now we are seeing the federal courts back up a decision made by a singe investigator who did not protect the accused person’s due process protections but nonetheless his power has been restored to do as he damn well pleases. Commanders, Title IX coordinators, and Roger Goodell are all fallible and can easily abuse their power to show both the public and Claire McCaskill that they are tough on sexual assault and domestic violence when in fact they are using it as a tool to make it appear that they are addressing the issues. We have checks and balances in this country for a reason. Who is going to hold these decision makers accountable? Luckily for college kids and football players, if they have the money they can fight back in a court of law. Military members cannot hold single investigator’s responsible for their actions or inactions because the Feres Doctrine prevents us from suing the Department of Defense for wrongdoing. Thanks to the courts, military members basically lose their constitutional rights the day they sign the dotted line. We are not only acceptable risks but it doesn’t matter how we got injured or died because no one can question the decisions made by the powers that be aside from Congress. And Congress is failing us big time.