Category: Courts and law
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Author Files Suit to Spur Investigation of UVa Admissions
Jeff Thomas, author of “Virginia Politics & Government in a New Century: The Price of Power,” has filed a complaint asking the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Virginia to launch an independent investigation into admissions practices at the University of Virginia. Reports the Cavalier Daily: Thomas said in an email to The Cavalier…
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Suspended Licenses in Virginia a Social Scourge
In the fiscal year ending June 2015, the Old Dominion suspended licenses of nearly 39,000 Virginians for drug convictions unrelated to driving. The practice is a relic dating back to 1991 and the war on drugs, and all but 12 states have abandoned it. Suspending licenses for drug possession is just one facet of a widespread abuse,…
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Virginians Should Watch “Loving”
If you haven’t seen “Loving” yet, you need to. The movie tells the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, a white man and “colored” woman living in Caroline County in the 1950s, who married in violation of the law against mixed-race wedlock. Their case famously went to the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in the dismemberment of…
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Great Moments in Virginia Governance: Norfolk Edition
From the Virginian-Pilot: An employee of Norfolk Treasurer Anthony Burfoot testified in U.S. District Court Monday that she waived penalties and fees for local developers at the direction of her boss. Prosecutors allege that Dwight Etheridge, Tommy Arney, Ronnie Boone Sr. and others paid Burfoot more than $400,000 in kickbacks and bribes between 2005 and…
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The McAuliffe-Clinton Email Nothingburger
by James A. Bacon So, what do we make of the front-page revelation in today’s Wall Street Journal that Governor Terry McAuliffe, a long-time ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave $475,000 through his Common Good VA PAC to Jill McCabe, a Democratic candidate in 20015 for a Northern Virginia state senate seat, who ……
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Virginia’s Meth Epidemic Is No Joke
by James A. Bacon My son, now in college, has a running joke when his mom and I call to see what he’s been up to. Not much, he deadpans, except for cooking up some crystal meth. An amusing gag for an affluent suburban family where no one imbibes anything stronger than a cabernet sauvignon. But…
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A Measured Approach to Restoring Felons’ Civil Rights
by James A. Bacon Virginia Republicans have excoriated Governor Terry McAuliffe for endeavoring to issue a blanket restoration of civil rights to ex-felons. So, what’s their alternative? First and most important, Republicans are submitting their proposals as bills that can be reviewed, debated, and amended. The process is transparent, and the public will have a chance to…
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Virginia’s New Debtor’s Prison
by James A. Bacon Damian Stinnie, a 24-year-old African American living in Charlottesville, grew up in the foster care system in Virginia but managed to graduate from high school with a 3.9 GPA. Living with his twin since aging out of foster care, he has worked nearly full-time as a sales clerk at Walmart and,…
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Another Proud Moment in Virginia Government
From NBC News: The mayor of Fairfax, Virginia, has resigned following his arrest last week for allegedly trying to exchange methamphetamine to undercover detectives in exchange for sex, city officials said Monday. Mayor Richard “Scott” Silverthorne … 50, was arrested and charged with felony distribution of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia after a…
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Which Is More Fundamental: the Restoration of Felons’ Rights or the Constitutional Separation of Powers?
by James A. Bacon Imbued with a sense of righteousness over the loss of voting rights for convicted felons, Governor Terry McAuliffe is unrepentant about his decision to restore those rights to more than 200,000 ex-felons by executive decree. In a statement released Friday, McAuliffe decried a Virginia Supreme Court decision ruling that blocked his…
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Virginia’s Email Scandal
by Brian Cannon Today the Supreme Court of Virginia will hear a case about emails politicians don’t want you to see. You may miss the story in the news because this has nothing to do with presidential politics. Rather it’s about Virginia’s 2011 gerrymander. Five years ago, Virginia was split with Democrats in control of the Virginia…
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McDonnell Wins Appeal
In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Bob McDonnell’s bribery conviction. The former Governor had been found guilty in 2014 of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from Richmond businessman Jonnie Williams in exchange for using his office to promote a dietary supplement. Prosecutors had charged that McDonnell had committed at least…
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McAuliffe’s Dangerous Game
by James A. Bacon Once upon a time, when he helped run L. Douglas Wilder’s history-making gubernatorial campaign, Paul Goldman was regarded as a progressive voice in Virginia politics. If he writes many more op-eds like the one published Sunday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, he could well become anathema to progressives. Not because he has changed his…
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Lawsuit Pries Loose Warmist Emails
by James A. Bacon The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has prevailed in a lawsuit to obtain emails detailing how GMU climatologists organized a call for a federal investigation into corporations that “knowingly deceived” the public about climate change. The campaign was organized by Jagadish Shukla, director of the Institute for Global Environment and Society (IGES), who subsequently drew…
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Rule by Edict Comes to Virginia
by James A. Bacon A persuasive moral case can be made to restore the civil rights of former felons. Once a man has served his time and repaid his debt to society, he should be allowed to participate fully in that society. As Governor Terry McAuliffe stated Friday in announcing his restoration of civil rights to…