Did you know that E. Jean Carroll was able to sue Benedict Donald because of New York's Adult Survivors Act? For a defined period of time, adult survivors of sexual assault were allowed to pursue civil action against their attackers, even if the statute of limitations on their assaults had expired. (The act itself expired at the end of November.)
Details like these are usually better-known in legal-beagle circles, but considering the high profile of the Carroll-Trump case, you may have heard of it. Carroll not only pursued her own aggressor, but hoped that her example would inspire other adult survivors to follow her lead.
Now, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a new law that also springs from the Carroll case. "Rape Is Rape" expands the state's legal definition to include all kinds of penetration — setting aside the earlier, vague distinction between rape and what the original Carroll jury found Trump liable for, "sexual abuse." What Carroll endured was rape, but by dint of the old law, they couldn't call it that.
This is partly why Judge Lewis Kaplan reminded the jury in the second trial that Trump was, plainly, a rapist. That the first jury had convicted "only" on sexual abuse, he explained, "does not mean that [Carroll] failed to prove that Mr. Trump raped her as many people commonly understand the word rape. Indeed, as the evidence at trial...makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that."
The new law is a step in the right direction to help victims of sexual assault find justice. Fittingly, Governor Hochul saluted E. Jean Carroll for her bravery at yesterday's signing. It's crossed our minds that the Carroll verdict may actually end up having more of an effect on the 2024 election than any of the criminal charges Benedict Donald faces. On top of Dobbs, there's just no reason for any woman, unless she's hard-core, blinkered MAGA, to vote Republican this fall. We cats PURR.
(IMAGE: Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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