Where an elementary school principal omitted a fourth grader’s essay on LGBTQ equality from a student booklet because the material was not age-appropriate, she did not violate the First Amendment as her decision was reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns ...

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

Although the plaintiffs obtained a preliminary injunction enjoining a Virginia statute that automatically suspended drivers’ licenses when persons failed to pay their court debt, and the statute was subsequently repealed by the General Assembly, their request as prevailing parties for ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Joel Hoppe U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a former employee of the Virginia Department of Corrections, or DOC, alleged the DOC’s random drug testing policy violated the Fourth Amendment, and DOC officials argued their actions were protected by qualified immunity, additional briefing was ordered on the ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the Frederick County School Board, or FCSB, and its head of communications failed to dismiss claims alleging they deleted critical comments from a student’s mother about the district’s reopening plans and mask mandates, and then told the mother she ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where executive orders issued to combat the spread of  COVID-19 were no longer in effect, the Virginia governor did not enforce the orders and the commonwealth had not consented to suit in federal court, a church’s challenge to the orders ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the record showed a deaf inmate could not communicate in writing because of his lack of English proficiency, that point-to-point videophone calls would not have a “ripple effect” on fellow inmates or prison staff, and that the prison could ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Henry F. Floyd

Tour guides in Charleston, South Carolina, are no longer required to pass a written examination, acquire a valid business license that must be renewed annually and pay fees before they can provide tours. The ordinance was struck down on First ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Robert B. King

A Trump immigration order, Proclamation 9645, was facially legitimate in that it restricted entry for national security, and not religious, reasons, and there was persuasive evidence the entry suspension had a legitimate grounding in national security concerns. The International Refugee ...

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

Where the plaintiff’s argument that a new Virginia statute restricting a person’s access to firearms in certain circumstances was unconstitutional and would inhibit his ability to express himself out of fear he might be subjected to the statute, was speculative ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Glen E. Conrad U.S. District Court - Western District

Where COVID-19 emergency orders hampered plaintiffs’ efforts to collect signatures on a petition to have the city of Norfolk adopt a “2nd Amendment Preservation” ordinance, the signature requirements in Norfolk’s city charter are not unconstitutional as applied to plaintiffs. Further, ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Richard E. Gardiner Norfolk City Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts