The VLW Blog

Richmond Circuit Judge Margaret Spencer gave environmentalists a victory by invalidating a permit for a major coal-fired power plant in Southwest Virginia. In yesterday’s ruling, Judge Spencer said that the state Air Pollution Control Board erred in issuing the permit for the $1.8 billion Dominion Virginia Power plant and that the board must craft a [...]

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A woman who lived with a child’s biological mother, whom she married under Canadian law, was not a “person with a legitimate interest” in visitation with the child, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled today. The child, born in 1996, was four years old when her biological mom and dad divorced. The child lived with [...]

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Since retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has been sitting in on appeals panels around the country. As a substitute judge, Justice O’Connor has heard nearly 80 cases and written more than a dozen opinions for federal appellate courts, reports The Wall Street Journal. Justice O’Connor’s latest opinion, Walker v. Prince [...]

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Franklin County Circuit Judge William Alexander has been appointed to hear the two lawsuits filed against the state over the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech.  The five judges of the 27th circuit recused themselves because of links with Virginia Tech officials named in the suit, reports The Roanoke Times. The lawsuits on behalf of families [...]

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The discussion today at two legislative committees illustrated the difficulty in tackling a tough issue in a short period of time even when there’s general agreement on the response to the problem. The problem is the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, which placed in doubt the system Virginia uses to have laboratory [...]

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A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today turned thumbs down on the habeas petition of John Allen Muhammad, sentenced to death in Virginia for his role in one of the DC sniper shootings in 2002. Muhammad is blamed for killing ten people and wounding 6 others.  He was sentenced to death [...]

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Attorney General Bill Mims today announced he will ask for review of the Dustin Turner case by the full Court of Appeals. A panel of that court split two-to-one this week in granting a writ of actual innocence for the former Navy SEAL trainee who has been serving time for a murder he says he [...]

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Gov. Timothy M. Kaine conditionally pardoned three men today for their alleged role in the rape of an 18-year-old woman in Norfolk in 1997. The three – Derek Tice, Danial Williams and Joseph Dick Jr. – confessed to the murder, as did Eric Wilson, who was released in 2005 after serving an 8-1/2 year sentence [...]

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Neil MacBride is the leading candidate for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, reports The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources. MacBride currently is an associate deputy attorney general. His resume includes work as a corporate lobbyist, a credential that raised some questions about his candidacy, according to the paper. MacBride also has been [...]

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A Lynchburg police officer says he got a tongue lashing from the city manager after he spoke out as a citizen at a public hearing on budget issues. Now, the officer is suing for $500,000, saying the manager’s tirade – which the officer secretly recorded – was unconstitutional retaliation for speech protected by the First [...]

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