The VLW Blog

Sparked by two recent accounts of intimidation, some Shenandoah Valley legislators are considering whether the display of a hangman’s noose should be categorized as a hate crime in the Virginia code. According to this account in the Daily News Record, most Harrisonburg-area lawmakers would favor the change. The paper reports that the EEOC is looking [...]

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Five Virginia state police chaplains reportedly have resigned in protest over a directive that says the chaplains must use only non-denominational prayers in public events. According to this report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the chaplains have been told that their official prayers should not include the phrase “in Jesus’ name.”   The directive apparently was [...]

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Virginia Sen. Jim Webb is quoted in a press release about a poll conducted by an organization that opposes mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses. Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) says the poll shows that 59 percent of Americans are opposed to mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses and that 57 percent of respondents say [...]

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Patricia Davis is the new director of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, the state’s three-year old system for surveying the performance of sitting judges. Davis served as the first Clerk of the Virginia Court of Appeals, and as a Senior Editor of the Division of Legislative Service’s Virginia Code Revision project, put on hold in [...]

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Goodbye, puppy. The VLW Blog Dog has gone away. Readers who stopped by yesterday may have been puzzled to see a picture of a dog frolicking in the grass at the top of the VLW Blog. Actually, it was the south end of a northbound puppy (see pic at right). The reason: We’ve installed a [...]

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The Virginia Court of Appeals responded today to a Supreme Court of Virginia opinion in April that took the intermediate appellate court to task for dismissing cases under Rule 5A:20(e). That provision requires that the opening brief include “[t]he principles of law, the argument, and the authorities relating to each question presented.” In several cases, [...]

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A shrinking lake has produced evidence of a death that may have occurred more than 80 years ago. Mountain Lake, the centerpiece of the celebrated Mountain Lake Resort, is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia.  Estimated to be more than 10,000 years old, the lake occasionally recedes due to geologic phenomena.  Currently, the [...]

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Leave it to lawyers to be worried about judicial oversight. Young lawyers serving as judicial clerks dominated the audience waiting for oral argument in a Sarbanes-Oxley case this morning in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. Overheard from one of the courtroom benches: “I’m trying to find someone who will nationalize my [...]

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Five illegal immigrants are being held in the Fairfax County jail as material witnesses to a murder, even though they are not charged with any crime. As reported by the Washington Post, the five Hondurans may be behind bars for months, and their lawyers are protesting.  Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh (left) defends the use [...]

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Virginia Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. has selected Richmond City Attorney Norman Sales to serve as a faculty member of the Virginia State Bar Professionalism Program, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The bar’s professionalism course is mandatory for all new Virginia lawyers.  The course trains lawyers in professional conduct, ethics, and the fundamental values [...]

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