The court remanded the case for further proceedings on the Fifth Amendment equal protection claim and the 42 U.S.C. § 1985 claims asserted by the plaintiffs. Background Upon consideration of submissions relative to the plaintiffs’ motion for remand, this court ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

Where an individual was twice deemed incompetent to stand trial on charges of sexual assault and abuse of female minors, holding a commitment hearing to determine whether the individual should be indefinitely committed to the custody of the Attorney General ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A regional jail authority that prohibited prisoners from obtaining magazines and books unless they received prior permission infringed the First Amendment and due process rights of the Human Rights Defense Center by restricting prisoners’ access to the books and magazines ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District

Both parties’ motions for summary judgment were denied as there are disputed issues of material fact over the impact of multiple restrictions on the location of abortions and regulation of facilities. However, the terms “hospital” and “second trimester” are not ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Henry E. Hudson U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a school board disciplined a student for nonconsensual sexual touching of three other students, the circuit court erred by vacating the board’s decision. The circuit court misapplied governing legal standards and misinterpreted the record of the disciplinary proceedings, rules ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia

The civil forfeiture of a truck valued at $53,000 that was used to unlawfully distribute $200 worth of cocaine would violate the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment and 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Overview In the underlying criminal ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Michael F. Devine Virginia Circuit Courts

Where Virginia’s death row inmates were subject to confinement conditions that posed a substantial risk of serious psychological and emotional harm when they first filed their lawsuit, but changes made while the lawsuit was pending ended any Eighth Amendment violation, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

An individual who was prohibited from possessing a firearm as a result of his 30-year-old misdemeanor domestic assault conviction was not deprived of his Second Amendment rights because the concerns addressed by Congress in passing the prohibition were not alleviated ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

North Carolina’s ban on the unauthorized practice of law is not constitutionally infirm as applied to a trade association because it does not restrict the association’s speech, association or related rights and does not violate the state’s Monopoly Clause. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Albert Diaz

A parole board is not required to consider age-related mitigating characteristics of a defendant who was sentenced in 1988 when he was 17, to life with the possibility of parole. While the Supreme Court has addressed the sentencing of minors ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker