DAVENPORT, Iowa — A conservative lawyer testified Monday that she was shocked when she was passed over for a teaching job at the University of Iowa law school in favor of a less-qualified candidate who ended up resigning after performing poorly.
Teresa Wagner took the witness stand as her lawyers finished presenting her case, laid out during a weeklong trial in federal court in Davenport, that the liberal-leaning law school faculty blocked her appointment because of her conservative views and prior work for groups that oppose abortion rights.
The case is being closely watched in higher education and legal circles because of longstanding allegations of political bias at left-leaning law schools. Some experts say that, if successful, it could lead to more lawsuits. Closing arguments were made Monday afternoon, and a jury of eight women and four men will next consider whether Wagner was discriminated against and, if so, how much she should be awarded.
Abortion politics are at the center of the case, in which Wagner argues she was unfairly rejected for jobs teaching legal writing and analysis to first-year students. Wagner claims professor Randall Bezanson, a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun when he authored the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in 1973, led the opposition to her hiring. Wagner, a part-time employee of the law school’s writing center, notes her resume included her past work as a lawyer for the National Right to Life Committee and the Family Research Council, which both oppose abortion rights.
Wagner testified last week, and her lawyers called her back to the stand Monday to try to rebut the law school’s central defense: that she was rejected because she said during a job interview in January 2007 that she would not teach legal analysis, a key part of the job. Former Dean Carolyn Jones and three current and former professors testified Monday that those statements reflected poorly on her and led to her rejection.
“The job talk was, for a lot of people, disqualifying,” professor Christina Bohannan testified. “Consistently, her answer was that analysis was not part of the job.”
Former law school professor Peggy Smith, now at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a videotaped deposition played Monday that she asked Wagner again after the interview about legal analysis to try to give her another opportunity to show she understood its significance. Wagner again failed to do so, Smith said.
