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Entries Tagged as 'First Amendment'

Federal court gets aboard ‘visual aid’ bandwagon

January 22nd, 2013 · Comments Off · 4th Circuit, First Amendment, Land use

Not to be left behind by the Court of Appeals of Virginia, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has used a photograph to illustrate the subject of a North Carolina zoning dispute in a new opinion. While the Virginia court has offered images of weapons, the federal judges included a photo of a house [...]

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Supreme Court reverses ban on Internet criticism

January 2nd, 2013 · Comments Off · First Amendment, Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia acted swiftly Friday 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 to delete certain accusations about Dietz Development LLC from postings [...]

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No professional courtesy, no court help for ex-cop

August 16th, 2012 · Comments Off · 4th Circuit, First Amendment

A former sheriff’s deputy who tried to get out of a speeding ticket by claiming he was still “on the job” was convicted of impersonating an officer. “Not fair,” he claimed, arguing the law against pretending to be a cop violates the First Amendment because it would criminalize actors in police uniforms and kids playing [...]

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Plaintiff’s sincerity questioned in prayer case

August 13th, 2012 · Comments Off · First Amendment

Fighting a lawsuit over its use of Christian prayers in public meetings, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors is taking aim at the lawyer who brought the suit. The board has asked a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit filed by Barbara Hudson because – the board claims – Hudson is not sincere when [...]

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Public access appeal sent to Supreme Court

May 23rd, 2012 · Comments Off · First Amendment, Virginia Court of Appeals

A dispute over public access to evidence in a criminal file must be resolved by the Supreme Court of Virginia, a Court of Appeals panel decided in a split decision. A newspaper reporter is challenging the decision of a Newport News judge to block access to certain evidence in a criminal case. Two members of [...]

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Neo-Nazi loses twice at the 4th Circuit

March 1st, 2012 · Comments Off · 4th Circuit, First Amendment

Roanoke hatemonger William A. White struck out twice at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week, with the court upholding both his criminal convictions for sending threatening messages and a half-million-dollar civil judgment in favor of his victims. White even faces the possibility of more prison time. The appeals court held the trial [...]

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Judge bars Christian prayers at county meetings

February 3rd, 2012 · Comments Off · First Amendment, Local government, Western District

A Roanoke federal judge has ordered the Pittsylvania County supervisors to halt the routine use of Christian prayers to open their meetings. U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski held Friday that none of the arguments in favor of the county board’s prayer policy “has any merit.” Concluding that a citizen who challenged the prayers was [...]

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Cuccinelli on public prayer: follow the 4th Circuit

December 15th, 2011 · Comments Off · First Amendment, Local government

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says there are two ways local governments can meet the prevailing legal standard for prayer at government meetings. In an opinion letter arising from the dispute over Christian prayers at Pittsylvania County meetings, Cuccinelli said officials can either request nonsectarian prayers or cast a wide net for clergy so that [...]

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Blogging lawyer admonished, ordered to post disclaimers

October 18th, 2011 · Comments Off · Discipline, First Amendment, Lawyer Advertising, Technology

A Virginia State Bar discipline committee rejected First Amendment defenses and distinctions about public information to find misconduct on the part of a lawyer who blogged about his cases without client consent and without a disclaimer saying case results can be unreliable. The eight-member district committee ordered Horace Hunter of Richmond to yank from his [...]

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Polsby stays out of speech debate

October 6th, 2011 · Comments Off · First Amendment, Law Schools

Resisting calls to bar an anti-Muslim speaker on campus at George Mason University’s law school, Dean Daniel Polsby scored points with free speech advocates with his published comments last week. His statement concluded thus: The law school will not exercise editorial control over the words of speakers invited by student organizations, nor will we take [...]

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