U.S. Supreme Court Invalidates Violence Against Women Act's Civil Remedy

Attorney Eileen N. Wagner and U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, with Christy Brzonkala after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on January 11, 2000.

WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Supreme Court today invalidated a provision of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 that permitted the victims of gender motivated violence to sue their attackers under federal law. The Court held that Congress lacked authority to enact this provision under either their Constitutional ability to regulate interstate commerce or to enforce the equal protection provisions of the 14th Amendment.

The Court in an opinion written by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist further said that state courts were the proper authority to handle such cases, not federal courts.

The 5-4 ruling came in the case of Christy Brzonkala who was raped on the campus of Virginia Tech, allegedly by two members of the school's football team, shortly after the law's enactment and went public the next year with complaints about how the school responded.

Victim advocates promised that this woulden't be the last word on this issue. "We must remember that by standing together we got VAWA passed," said Jennifer Byron of Security On Campus, Inc. "when no one thought it could be done, and by standing together we will overcome this new obstacle."

Other sections of the law, including criminal provisions and program funding, were not affected by today's ruling.