The grim legacy of the Duke lacrosse scandal

Crystal Mangum recanted false accusations of rape she'd levelled against three Duke lacrosse players in a notorious 2006 travesty of justice.

Duke debacle helped usher in disastrous # MeToo era, when men accused of sexual misconduct were presumed guilty and labelled as rapists while their (mostly) female accusers were honoured as victims.

Due-process protections for accused students were virtually eliminated from campus hearings, partly pursuant to guidelines issued by the Obama administration.

Now comes secretary-of-defence nominee Pete Hegseth , accused of rape and harassment, as well as alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement.

Until recently, Hegseth opposed assigning women to combat roles.

Also condemned admitting gay and transgender people to the military as Marxist .

Now claims to have changed his mind about gays in the military and women in combat.

But once appointed he’ll obviously be free to change it back.