"Backlash Revisited: The Lost History of Legislation on Violence and Women" - Oct. 9th Talk by Victoria Nourse

 
Less than 300 women have served as members of the United States Congress, currently in its 112th session. This shortage of female voices in the U.S. legislative branch is another reminder that the field of law has historically been exceptionally male-dominated. Nonetheless, women’s equality issues today are becoming increasingly important. In order to understand more about the future of laws pertaining to women and violence, we must examine the character of past developments and legislation.

Victoria Nourse, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Congressional Studies at Georgetown University Law Center, will speak in part on her next book project, “Notes from the Legislative Underground,” that addresses the emergence of women’s issues in a Congress with few women, the passing of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, and the resurfacing of women's equality issues in the so-called "war on women."

Prof. Nourse started her legal career in Washington before she joined the legal academy. She was a junior counsel to the Senate-Iran Contra Committee under Senators Rudman and Inouye, an appellate lawyer for the Department of Justice in the Reagan-Bush years, and senior advisor to now-Vice President Biden on legislative matters, including the Violence Against Women Act. Her most recent book, In Reckless Hands, tells the real life drama of the 1942 Supreme Court case striking down state eugenics laws, a case that announced the right to procreate and marry. The book will be on sale at the lecture.