President Biden betrays the Sixth Amendment

While Biden writes laws by himself, Congress proves once again to be the vestigial organ of American government.

We knew the rule change was coming, and President Biden finally pulled the trigger: Biden demanded that colleges use the "preponderance of the evidence" (POTE) standard for adjudicating claims of sexual violence on campus. Criminal trials, of course, require a "beyond a reasonable doubt" (BARD) standard to prove guilt for a violent crime.

Beyond whether the policy is good or not, we once again see Biden acting like a king instead of a President: He is forcing a new standard on universities without a single vote from Congress. It is the legislative branch, not the executive branch, that should be writing major changes into law. Unfortunately, Congress has become the vestigial organ of American government, and our "legislators" show little interest in taking back rightful lawmaking authority from the President and the bureaucracy.

The timing of this new law is also highly suspect. We will have a Presidential election just over six months from now, and Biden is putting a new law into effect knowing that if he loses the election (which will be very close and could go either way) the Trump Administration will quickly erase the new rule. If Biden loses the election, colleges and universities will face policy whiplash, from Trump's policy to Biden's policy and back to Trump's policy in less than a year.

The policy itself is terrible, and would be even if it were properly passed by Congress instead of implemented by executive fiat. Men accused of sexual misconduct, sexual assault and rape will have virtually no opportunity to defend themselves against campus kangaroo courts that are weighted to achieve a guilty verdict. This places public universities in line for more lawsuits, as state-sponsored entities are not permitted to wantonly violate students' constitutional rights. Unfortunately, students who cannot afford expensive attorneys or get pro bono representation from civil rights groups will be steamrolled.

Rape and sexual assault are heinous crimes. Biden does not take these crimes seriously. If he did, he would encourage institutions of higher learning to get law enforcement involved so that people who commit sexual violence are criminally prosecuted instead of simply expelled and allowed to go free. If Biden took sexual violence seriously, he would want to make sure men punished for these crimes are actually guilty, rather than unleash universities to collect scalps. This is about giving a political "win" to feminists, who Biden will need in the upcoming election.

Congress should discipline the Biden administration by defunding all efforts to enforce this new law, and by passing an amendment to Title IX clarifying that it may not be "interpreted" to deny due process to students. This should be part of a much broader effort by Congress to reclaim its rightful legislative authority from the executive branch. Unfortunately, neither party is interested in doing that.

Previously:

♣ - Sexual assault, due process and protecting students.

♣ - Sexual assault, due process and civil liberties.

♣ - More thoughts on campus rape and due process.

♣ - Due process and sexual assault, revisited.

♣ - Due process, campus rape and false allegations.

♣ - Joe Biden does not take sexual violence seriously.