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DUI case could have impact on implied consent

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: April 29, 2013
Tags: Constitutional, Criminal, DUI, U.S. Supreme Court

A U.S. Supreme Court decision addressing the constitutionality of blood draws from drunken driving suspects may have a limited effect in Virginia – for the time being. In the April 17 decision, which split the justices 5-4, the high court held that the natural breakdown of alcohol in the bloodstream does not automatically justify an [...]

U.S. justices question legality of warrantless DNA collection

By Kimberly Atkins
Published: February 27, 2013
Tags: Constitutional, Criminal, U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – As they grilled the lawyers arguing before them on the issue of whether police can collect DNA samples from unconvicted arrestees without a warrant, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged just how high the stakes are. “I think this is, perhaps, the most important criminal procedure case that this court has [...]

Richmond airport case tests right of free speech

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: February 18, 2013
Tags: Constitutional, Federal Courts

Let me tell you the true story of Aaron Tobey and his journey through the Richmond airport. He acted out a fantasy that many of us harbor. Whether he is to be praised or dismissed as a troublemaker I leave to you to decide. Tobey is a college student. He was flying from Richmond to [...]

Campaign Finance Law Partly Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 23, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional, Judge Henry F. Floyd

In a challenge by plaintiff advocacy groups, the Center for Individual Freedom and West Virginians for Life, to the district court’s decision interpreting West Virginia’s statutory scheme to regulate advocacy groups’ spending in political campaigns, the 4th Circuit upholds the district court decision to strike periodicals from the definition of “electioneering communications” and upholds the [...]

Homeowner’s ‘Screwed’ Sign Struck

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 23, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional, Judge Albert Diaz

A resident of Cary, N.C., loses his constitutional challenge to a local sign ordinance, cited by the town to demand removal of a sign painted on the resident’s house saying “Screwed by the Town of Cary”; the 4th Circuit reverses the district court decision for the resident, and says the Cary sign ordinance is content [...]

Supreme Court hears lawyer-blogger’s appeal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 9, 2013
Tags: Constitutional, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice William C. Mims, Lawyer Discipline, Rules of Professional Conduct, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar

Lawyer-blogger Horace Hunter faced the Supreme Court of Virginia Jan. 8 in the appeal of his disciplinary case, and he said anything he wrote about his clients’ cases is absolutely protected by the First Amendment. First Amendment scholar Rodney Smolla made the case by arguing that Hunter’s blog is not commercial speech, but political speech [...]

Supreme Court reverses ban on Internet criticism

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 3, 2013
Tags: Constitutional, Defamation, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Thomas A. Fortkort, Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia acted swiftly last month to overturn a lower court’s takedown order directing a disgruntled consumer to remove critical online postings about a contractor. The high court vacated a Dec. 7 order from Fairfax Circuit Judge Thomas A. Fortkort ordering Jane Perez of Fairfax County to delete certain accusations about Dietz [...]

Court Record-Sealing Case Transferred

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 25, 2012
Tags: Constitutional, Judge Walter S. Felton Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

In a newspaper’s appeal of a circuit court decision to remove original photographs and an autopsy report from the public record in a murder and felony child-neglect case, and to seal photocopies of certain exhibits retained in the court file, the Court of Appeals says it does not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal and [...]

Sign Ordinance is ‘Content Neutral’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 24, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional, Judge Albert Diaz

An Arlington County sign ordinance that required a doggy daycare business to remove a 960-square foot painting of cartoon dogs on the side of the daycare’s business passes constitutional muster as a content-neutral restriction on speech that survives intermediate scrutiny, the 4th Circuit says. The county informed the daycare owner, Kim Houghton, that the painting [...]