Catherine Lhamon for the Private Sector

I have written to my senators, both Democrats, asking them to oppose Catherine Lhamon’s nomination to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, from which she is disqualified by her opposition to civil rights, in particular to due process rights for students accused of sexual assault.

Among other things, I pointed out that in several cases students have won lawsuits against educational institutions after being railroaded in accordance with the Obama Education Department’s “Dear Colleague” letter. Students who were factually innocent deserved to collect restitution, but it could be that someone who was actually guilty could win a lawsuit because the college which expelled him grossly bungled its investigation, and failed to follow proper procedures. One evil which could follow from returning Ms. Lhamon (a fellow Amherst College alum of mine) to public office is that rapists could collect millions of dollars from colleges tied in knots by a new “Dear Colleague “ letter.

The Red Queen’s Race

This week, I got one ordinary amendment on my Amended docket, and two cases arrived on my Expedited docket, one of them being a Printer’s Rush where someone spotted the need to make minor corrections in an allowed case, and one of them being an After Final where the applicant wanted me to reconsider my decision to write a final rejection instead of an allowance. I dealt with both of the Expedited cases, and I wrote and posted Office Actions on two older cases on my Amended docket, so now I’m left with two cases on my Amended docket. One of them is an Appeal Brief; I wrote an Examiner’s Answer, but I couldn’t post it by myself, as it requires approval from my supervisor and another supervisor, so it’s still on the Amended docket for now.

I also finished and posted a first action on my oldest Regular New case.