Former Law Prof Joshua Wright's Lawyer Criticizes Congressional Request For Information On George Mason's Title IX Investigation

Law.com, Joshua Wright's Counsel Criticizes Congresswoman's Requests for GMU's Title IX Investigation:

The congressional request for information regarding George Mason University’s Title IX investigation into Antonin Scalia Law School professor Joshua Wright is “deeply troubl[ling]” and based on “ misleading slander,” attorneys representing the professor said in a response Wednesday.

Wright’s counsel with the Binnall Law Group responded to a letter penned this week by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, who also serves as chairwoman for the Committee on Education and the Workforce, which asked for more information regarding GMU’s investigation into claims that Wright used his academic influence to seduce female law students.

In her letter addressed to George Mason University’s president and law school dean, Foxx referenced a June 8 Wall Street Journal article regarding “a troubling investigative report” about Wright and his alleged “influence over academic and career opportunities” involving ”inappropriate sexual relationships,” with some of his students. As chairwoman of the committee, which oversees Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Foxx asked for more information regarding George Mason’s investigation to such claims brought by former students, including Elyse Dorsey and Angela Landry. ...

Jesse R. Binnall, a partner with Binnall Law Group in Alexandria, Virginia, sent a response to Foxx Wednesday, claiming that the Congresswoman’s reliance on “misleading slander” and the “biased article” in The Wall Street Journal was an error.

Binnall’s letter, which was obtained by Law.com, said that he was ”deeply troubled” that the committee was “buying into the narrative of the progressive, left-wing supposed reporting.”

“Your letter’s disgraceful parroting of the biased article, which ignored important facts and is the subject of ongoing litigation as well as an ongoing Title IX investigation, is appalling,” Binnall wrote.

Binnall said that, instead of focusing on a “progressive agenda,” the Committee on Education and the Workforce should concern itself with what he called the Biden administration’s “disastrous Title IX Final Rule.” Binnall argued that the changes to Title IX rules, which include “radically redefining Title IX’s protection of ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity,’” will ”undoubtedly ruin many students’ and school faculty and administrators’ lives” and deprive them “of bedrock due process principles, which are especially important when false allegations are made,” the letter said.

“There is a long history of false accusations destroying the lives of innocent people, like Joshua Wright, including those recognized by important court rulings,” Binnall wrote. “There is a reason Americans do not trust their Congress—wasting resources based upon an obvious hit piece cannot be a good way to earn back their trust.”

Above the Law, Lawyer Seems To Forget His Law Professor Client Already Admitted To Sleeping With Students

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Former George Mason Law Prof Files $108M Lawsuit Against Former Students Accusing Him Of Sexual Misconduct (Aug. 26, 2023)
• After Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Former Tenured Law Professor, George Mason Bans Intimate Relationships Between Faculty And Students (Sept. 16, 2023)
• Joshua Wright Files Title IX Suit Against George Mason; Court Dismisses His $108 Million Defamation Claim Against Former Students Who Accused Him Of Sexual Misconduct (Dec. 12, 2023)
• George Mason Fires Back In Lawsuit By Former Tenured Law Professor Accused Of Sexual Misconduct (Jan. 30, 2024)
• Court Allows Former George Mason Law Prof Joshua Wright's $108 Million Defamation Suit Against Former Students He Dated To Proceed (June 10, 2024)
• WSJ Three-Part Series On Former George Mason Law Prof Joshua Wright 
• Part One: The Hidden Life of Google’s Secret Weapon (June 8, 2024)
• Part Two: For Years, an Esteemed Law Professor Seduced Students. Was He Too Important to Fire? (June 9, 2024)
• Part Three: How Hubris, Revenge and a Breakup Brought Down Big Tech’s Proudest Ally (June 10, 2024)
• Update On Ex-George Mason Law Prof Joshua Wright's Lawsuits Over Sex Allegations (June 23, 2024)
• George Mason To Comply With Congressional Request For Information On Sexual Allegations Against Former Law Prof Joshua Wright (June 27, 2024)