The types of allegations Story has laid out can lead to expensive and difficult-to-win lawsuits, according to Steven Wright, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and former attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
“These are very hard cases to bring, both in terms of they’re expensive to develop the facts. The law is against your side,” said Wright. “It’s unequivocal that horrible things are happening at Waupun … But I am not certain, as somebody who’s a civil rights lawyer and who has worked for federal judges, that this is a problem that the federal courts are going to weigh in to solve.”