The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the First Amendment’s ministerial exception bars job-bias suits against religion-based employers likely will have an impact far beyond discrimination claims. The affirmative defense could be invoked in other cases, including those alleging sexual abuse ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Employment U.S. Supreme Court

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 ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Law Firms Lawyer Discipline Virginia State Bar

A self-described “spiritual counselor” has lost her federal-court bid to avoid regulation as a business by Chesterfield County. Patricia Moore-King uses the trade name “Psychic Sophie,” and offers Tarot card readings and psychic and clairvoyant readings, in person, live online, ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Land Use & Zoning

A public school system may suspend a student for posting ugly accusations about another student on a MySpace page, even though the activity was outside of school, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided. The decision addresses an ...

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

A bill introduced in Congress this month would put an end to a current police practice – use of a GPS tracking device without a warrant to follow a suspect. The measure would force law enforcement to get a judicial ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Franklin County Circuit Court Judge William N. Alexander II

Richmond lawyer Horace F. Hunter faces a June 10 disciplinary hearing before the Virginia State Bar on a charge that a blog on his law firm website does not carry a disclaimer. Hunter says the VSB’s demand for a disclaimer ...

Tagged with: Chesterfield County Circuit Court Constitutional Federal Courts Judge Frederick G. Rockwell III Judge John A. Gibney Jr. Law Firms Lawyer Discipline Social Media Virginia State Bar

In this decades-old dispute, not unlike a “chronicle of the Tudor dynasty,” between a West Virginia landowner and local government bodies and neighbors who played a part in resisting his development plans, the 4th Circuit says the denial of a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

A Big Stone Gap U.S. District Court says the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 does not violate defendant’s First Amendment free speech rights, and the court refuses to dismiss an indictment charging defendant political candidate with altering documentation submitted to ...

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

A federal appeals court has affirmed approval of a government-backed project where an Arlington church shares space with subsidized apartments in a single 10-story building. In a Dec. 23 opinion, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of ...

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

A Richmond U.S. District Court strikes § 1501 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a provision that requires individuals to either obtain a minimum level of health insurance coverage or pay a penalty for failure to do so, ...

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