Legal Commentary

Judge James Beaty of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina has denied, at least in part, the motions to dismiss in Evans v. City of Durham, the action by the three indicted Duke lacrosse players (they previously settled with Duke University) and the motions for summary judgment in   Carrington v. Duke University, the actions by the 39 unindicted lacrosse players.

This is a shock, I must admit. These motions have been pending for almost two years now. And I--and Sam Kamin, who wrote a terrific essay on the constitutional claims for my book on the case--really believed that at least the constitutional claims were non-starters.

I will have more to say once I have a chance to read the extremely lengthy (Evans is 98 pages, Carrington is 178 pages) opinions.