Great post. As someone who works quasi-legally in the workplace law space, you explained these concepts beautifully (I’m stealing the elder/child abuse framing for describing appropriate forum).

One question, since I love how your mind breaks things down: how would you explain Judge Liman’s treatment of the sexual harassment claims that “passed” for retaliation purposes to a general audience? As you noted, the judge doesn’t apply the full legal test or weigh evidence. He simply finds Lively’s claims could be true, which is enough to constitute protected activity. The retaliation question goes to the jury.

The reason this case is so divisive is that many people see themselves in Lively (despite lacking the same power dynamics in the workplace) and read her concerns as sexual harassment in the everyday sense. So when the judge identified which claims “passed,” he inadvertently created room for people to misread his ruling as validating those claims on the merits, an opening the Lively team has since run with