Where the court previously held that protecting the portion of society that disfavored public display of female breasts furthers an important governmental interest, and the Supreme Court has not held otherwise, Ocean City’s ordinance prohibiting women from going topless was ...

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

Where the General Assembly enacted a statute that prohibits courts from enforcing certain probation violations, the statute violates the separation of powers clause in the Virginia Constitution. Overview A defendant placed on supervised probation is subject to 11 mandatory rules ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge James P. Fisher Loudoun County Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where the court previously found that Virginia Beach’s at-large method of election was illegal and enjoined its continued use, it won’t allow the same system to be used for an election to fill the seat of a council member who ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Raymond A. Jackson U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where former employees of national security agencies voluntarily signed agreements giving the agencies prepublication review of certain materials they intend to publish, they knowingly waived their First Amendment rights to challenge the requirement that they submit materials for review. Moreover, ...

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

Where the convicted sex-offender failed to show a regulation prohibiting sex offenders from having in-person visits with minors unless they received an exception lacked “a rational relation to legitimate penological interests,” his First Amendment right to association claim was dismissed. ...

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

Where there is a historic right of access to judicial documents because they provide the public with insight into the functioning of the judicial process, two Virginia courts were ordered to provide “contemporaneous’’ access to newly filed complaints.. Background Courthouse ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Where incarcerated persons at two Virginia maximum security prisons alleged that solitary confinement deprived them of a basic human need, and that the risk of prolonged detention was obvious from the medical and scientific literature and a prior Fourth Circuit ...

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

Where a labor union challenged advisory opinions limiting government employees’ speech about impeachment efforts in 2020, but those opinions were withdrawn after then-President Trump left office and there was no credible allegation of any chilling effect from the opinions while ...

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

Where a South Carolina county warned residents before it sprayed for mosquitoes in an effort to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, including issuing a press release to many media outlets and providing the experienced pilot with the locations ...

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

In a case of first impression, the court held a local government’s policy of enforcing state law renders it susceptible to Monell liability if the municipal policymaker made a meaningful and conscious choice that caused a constitutional injury. Because the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Allison Jones Rushing