The revelation that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly paid $32 million to a network employee to settle a sexual harassment accusation, at least his six sexual harassment settlement in the past decade totaling $45 million, is stunning news, especially since Fox then rehired O’Reilly with a four-year extension paying $25 million a year. The O’Reilly scandal, coming a few months after Fox fired its News chairman Roger Ailes for his serial sexual harassment of Fox employees, and amidst the firestorm surrounding the wave of public accusations of sexual harassment against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, has focused public attention on the ability of wealthy and powerful people to commit repeated acts of sexual harassment for decades with impunity.

Interestingly, while much of the public outcry has focused, correctly, on the people who knew about the predatory sexual behavior but didn’t speak out, there is another enabler of the sexual harassment that hasn’t been mentioned, but should be: the legal system. Indeed, one of the most disturbing features of our legal system is the way it has been used by sexual predators to shield themselves from legal liability. They pay off their accusers and then make them sign confidentiality agreements to keep the accusations secret.

Why does the legal system tolerate secrecy to protect powerful and wealthy people from legal liability? Why does the legal system allow powerful and wealthy people to buy off accusers, including with accusations of rape, with huge monetary payments and then insulate themselves from legal accountability by forcing the accuser as a condition of the settlement to keep the accusation secret?