CONGRESS REAUTHORIZES THE VAWA

In December 2005, Congress reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, with an approximate $3.9 billion budget over the next five years. While there have been important additions added (read Legal Momentum's analysis here), this law still is ineffective in crucial ways.

When Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994, it was intended to provide women with a strong legal remedy—they could sue in federal court—if they had been raped or a victim of domestic violence. To discourage gender-motivated violence, the law allowed women to sue their rapists and their harassers in federal court.

The Supreme Court, however, eliminated the legal remedy of the Violence Against Women Act in a case called US v. Morrison in 2000. This recent reauthorization doesn't fix the broken parts of this important act. Read our fact sheet for more information.