Some have wondered if Lobby Day would be canceled or changed due to the events at the US Capitol back on January 6. The answer is no. Lobby Day is on track for this Monday, January 18. Lobby Day in… Read More ›
CIVIL RIGHTS
Virginia’s Humble Conscience in Academia
Editors’ Note: Cross-posted from The New York Times, December 31, 2020. From custodian to department head at Washington and Lee, and a reckoning with the Confederate general By Clay Risen Ted DeLaney, who began his nearly 60-year career at Washington… Read More ›
Around the Novahood
BLACK DEFENDANT + PORTRAITS OF WHITE JUDGES = UNFAIR TRIAL First Louisa, now Fairfax. As reported by VoxFairfax on September 21, 2020 (The Shot Heard Round the Old Dominion, https://wp.me/p9wDCF-1Mf), a Louisa County circuit judge ruled on a motion by attorneys… Read More ›
I Hear Ya Knockin’
This month, Virginia became one of three states to ban “no knock” warrants. Thirteen states have legislated in favor of this police power while the remainder deem such searches permissible with court approval. The procedure has had a troubled history,… Read More ›
We All Live in a Crowded Submarine
In March 1919 (Schenck v. US), Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes penned the oft-quoted phrase certifying that “falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic” was speech that Congress could prohibit and prosecute offenders. The defendant Schenck… Read More ›
Unpacking Supreme Court Gridlock
By Andrew Scalise One might expect that the entire country grieved on the evening of September 18 with news of the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but perhaps the only thing sadder than learning of her death… Read More ›
Religion and the Courts
On, Monday, November 26, 2020, in a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that limitations ordered by New York State upon religious gatherings in places of worship as protective measures against the COVIS-19 virus are unconstitutional. The ruling was… Read More ›
Around the Novahood
FAIRFAX JUDGE RULES CASH BOND UNCONSTITUTIONAL A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge has found that keeping an indigent defendant in jail in lieu of a cash bond is unconstitutional, writing that it violates the Constitution’s Due Process Clause by forcing… Read More ›
“Liberty or Death” Ideology is Dangerous
Editors’ Note: Excerpted from the Roanoke Times, December 1, 2020. Kingsport, Tennessee, is an hour’s drive, about 50 miles, from Wise, Virginia. Kingsport is the site of Ballad Hospital, which acquired a refrigerated truck as a temporary morgue to house… Read More ›