High court upholds imprisonment for ‘sexually dangerous’

High court says agency can sue mental health commissioner

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: April 25, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says Virginia’s advocate for the mentally ill can sue to force state officials to provide records relating to deaths and injuries at state mental health facilities. The justices, in a 6-2 ruling Tuesday, reinstated the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy’s lawsuit against Virginia’s mental health commissioner and two other [...]

Impact of Melendez-Diaz is lessening over time

By Alan Cooper
Published: March 3, 2011
Tags: Criminal, DUI, Melendez-Diaz, U.S. Supreme Court

The case of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts has proved to be more of a paperwork burden for prosecutors and the Department of Forensic Science than a boon for criminal defendants and their attorneys. The ruling generally requires laboratory analysts to testify in person unless a defendant affirmatively waives an appearance. It created enough concern among prosecutors [...]

Is gender difference in law on immigration unconstitutional?

By Kimberly Atkins
Published: November 15, 2010
Tags: Immigration, U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are grappling with issues of gender bias, judicial remedies, and congressional power in a case considering the constitutionality of a law that makes it easier for a child of unmarried parents to obtain citizenship if the mother, rather than the father, is a U.S. citizen The case, [...]

Military family’s funeral protest case heard

By Kimberly Atkins
Published: October 7, 2010
Tags: Constitutional, U.S. Supreme Court

In a case involving a controversial Topeka, Kan., church whose members travel the country to protest at the funerals of fallen soldiers, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court struggled to draw the line between protected speech and tortious activity. The case, Snyder v. Phelps, appealed from a September 2009 decision by the 4th U.S. [...]

‘Twiqbal’ guide cuts both ways

By Alan Cooper
Published: August 6, 2010
Tags: Federal Courts, Twiqbal, U.S. Supreme Court

If plaintiff’s attorneys have to be more specific in their federal complaints, defense attorneys have a duty to be just as precise in their answers. Virginia federal courts are starting to weigh in on an issue that is splitting the federal courts: whether the more stringent pleading standards recognized in the shorthand “Twombly-Iqbal” formulation can [...]

U.S. Supreme Court ruling renews debate over arbitration fairness

By Kimberly Atkins
Published: June 29, 2010
Tags: ADR, Employment Discrimination, U.S. Supreme Court

A ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that the enforceability of an employment arbitration agreement was for an arbitrator to decide – even though the employee claimed the agreement was unconscionable – has drawn the ire of lawyers and lawmakers opposed to mandatory arbitration. The decision gives “corporations yet another free pass to submit employees [...]

Criminal bar must learn science, panel says

By Alan Cooper
Published: June 22, 2010
Tags: Criminal, Melendez-Diaz, U.S. Supreme Court, Virginia State Bar

To take full advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, criminal defense attorneys will have to learn science, according to a panel on the case at the Virginia State Bar meeting on Friday. Melendez-Diaz says prosecutors generally must present the analyst who prepared a report unless the defendant gets notice of [...]

U.S. high court rejects appeal based on misconduct

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: June 7, 2010
Tags: U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court rejected last week an appeal from a federal death row inmate who said his death sentence should have been thrown out because of a juror’s misconduct. The justices did not comment in turning down Brandon Basham, who was sentenced to death for kidnapping and killing 44-year-old Alice Donovan in 2002. The [...]

Virginia won’t join brief over funeral protest

By The Associated Press
Published: June 3, 2010
Tags: Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Constitutional, U.S. Supreme Court

Virginia was one of just two states that refused to join a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday supporting the father of a Marine whose funeral drew anti-gay protesters carrying inflammatory signs. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s spokesman said concerns about freedom of expression prompted the decision to stay out of Albert Snyder’s legal battle against the fundamentalist Westboro [...]