Dive Brief:
- A Republican who claimed her political beliefs were the reason she was passed over for a position teaching legal writing at the University of Iowa has been granted a new trial.
- Teresa Wagner sued former law school dean Carolyn Jones in 2009 for political discrimination — she said that she wasn’t promoted because of her political beliefs and work with an anti-abortion group and other organizations.
- Wagner lost her point on political discrimination when a federal jury decided against her in 2012, and a mistrial was declared on her claim that her equal protection rights were violated. Because the jury gave its decision after it had initially been dismissed, a new trial will be held on the political discrimination claim.
Dive Insight:
The new trial was granted by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The claim about violating equal protection rights was dismissed after the case was tried by a U.S. District Court judge. In her lawsuit, Wagner reported that only one of the 50 professors at the law school was a Republican. Faculty members have testified, however, that Wagner’s answer to a question during her job interview indicated that she lacked interest in legal analysis.
