Latest Case: Herrera-Reyes v. Attorney General United States (Immigration Law)

“He Took It Like a Man”: Harvey Weinstein’s Conviction and the Limits of Discrimination Law

JOANNA L. GROSSMAN

SMU Dedman School of Law professor Joanna L. Grossman comments on the recent conviction of Harvey Weinstein for criminal sexual assault in the first degree and rape in the third degree. Grossman points out that our country’s antidiscrimination laws do not actually protect the people they intend to protect, instead focusing on employer policies and procedures. She argues that we should take this opportunity to learn from the system of criminal law, which did work in this case, to fix the antidiscrimination laws that purport to protect against sexual harassment and misconduct.

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Herrera-Reyes v. Attorney General United States

Docket: 19-2255

Opinion Date: February 28, 2020

Judge: Krause

Areas of Law: Immigration Law

The Nicaraguan government has a “de facto concentration of power in a single party,” the Sandinistas. According to human rights observers, police generally protect or give preferential treatment to pro-government [Sandinista] demonstrations while disrupting or denying registration for opposition groups and “did not protect opposition protesters when pro-government supporters harassed or attacked them.” Herrera described violent attacks against the Liberal Party and testified that she was subjected to a pattern of threatening words and conduct that rose to the level of persecution. Herrera concluded she would be killed for her Liberal Party leadership role if she stayed. After she left, Sandinistas repeatedly visited her family’s home demanding to know where she had gone. Herrera arrived in the U.S. and sought political asylum. The government did not dispute that she was targeted on account of her political opinion, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42), or by members of the ruling Sandinista Party. The IJ concluded that Herrera’s experiences did not “rise to the level of past persecution” because she “was never physically harmed,” “never arrested or imprisoned,” and “[n]ever threatened by a government official.” The BIA affirmed. The Third Circuit vacated, noting that Herrera’s home was burned down, a convoy in which she was traveling came under gunfire, and a political meeting she was organizing was robbed at gunpoint.