From Doe v. MIT, decided today by Judge Richard G. Stearns (D. Mass.):
On May 13, 2016, Doe was expelled from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) following a Title IX proceeding involving accusations made against him by his ex-girlfriend, Jane Doe, of nonconsensual contact and forced sexual intercourse, and sexual harassment. On December 16, 2021, Doe sued MIT in this court for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and denial of basic due process. According to Doe's Complaint, MIT's Title IX investigation had been compromised by a "[r]adical feminist anti-male bias on the MIT campus [that] guided the investigation report's conclusions …. MIT presumed the female complainant's story to be true (which it wasn't), and presumed John Doe not to be truthful (which wasn't the case) in order to avoid being found responsible."
Doe moved to proceed under a pseudonym on the same day. This court denied his motion, finding that his generalized expression of fear of future harm if self-identified as an alleged perpetrator of sexual assault, was too speculative to outweigh the court's historical concern for transparency and constitutional presumption favoring public access to judicial records….
[On appeal,] the First Circuit responded with an innovative four-part test to be used to determine those situations in which a party in a federal civil case might permissibly proceed under a pseudonym. The First Circuit vacated this court's order and remanded Doe's case for consideration under the new test….
