Senate Blocks Taking Sex Assault Outside Military Command
Protect Our Defenders President Nancy Parrish is featured in this article from Bloomberg:
The vote came on the same day the Army disclosed that its top sexual-assault prosecutor is under investigation based on allegations that he groped a female lawyer at a sexual-assault conference in 2011, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed Army officials. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Morse, who oversees 23 other special-victims prosecutors, was placed under criminal investigation after the lawyer reported the alleged incident, the Post reported.
Lobbying over Gillibrand’s measure had been waged on both sides for months, pitting the Pentagon brass against victims’ advocates.
“It is a travesty that this very practical, conservative measure, supported by a substantial majority of the Senate and 60 percent of Americans was blocked by a procedural filibuster,” Nancy Parrish, president of Protect Our Defenders, a victims’ support group, said in a statement. “We may have lost this battle due to political maneuverings, but effective reform will be accomplished. It is only a matter of time.”
