Category: Courts and law
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Triumphs in Criminal Bail Reform and Restorative Justice
by James C. Sherlock George Soros wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday July 31. Title: “Why I Support Reform Prosecutors.” Subtitle: “Justice or safety? It’s a false choice. They reinforce each other.” Mr. Soros proudly proclaims he has supported the election (and more recently the re-election) of prosecutors who support reform.…
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Gender Dysphoria Treatment for Children Needs Some Rules in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Virginia needs, for the protection of children, parents, and physicians, a law to specify minimum age requirements and require court orders for voluntary medical intervention in child sexual development. When there are physical abnormalities involved, the court can order those treatments as well. On the other hand, I propose a ban…
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Seven Years for Shooting a Guy Eight Times. Sounds Like a Pretty Good Deal.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For all those folks on this blog who are concerned about “woke” prosecutors, leniency toward murderers, and enforcement of gun laws, here is a case to consider. A 17-year-old Black kid goes to a house to purchase four ounces of marijuana for $400. While meeting with the 19-year-old seller, the kid pulls…
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The Far-Reaching Implications of the Federal Case of a UVa Medical Student
by James C. Sherlock This space has hosted commentary before on the case of KIERAN RAVI BHATTACHARYA, Plaintiff, v. JAMES B. MURRAY, et al., Defendants. Mr. Murray is sued in his role as University of Virginia Rector. This case relates to Bhattacharya’s suspension and dismissal from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in the…
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Impact of Supremes’ Roe v. Wade Ruling Way Overstated
by Ken Reid Should Governor Glenn Youngkin succeed in getting the Virginia General Assembly to curb abortion in Virginia from 25 weeks of pregnancy (at present) to 15, some 97% of abortions will still be protected, according to 2019 stats from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, in six of the eight…
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Virginia Law, Abortion, Expectant Mothers and Medical Professionals
by James C. Sherlock To clarify for those who misunderstand or knowingly misrepresent the statements of Republican leaders in the General Assembly concerning a new law on abortion, a woman aborting her unborn child is not proposed to be the subject of legal sanctions. The targets in the mainstream Republican proposals being developed for a new abortion…
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The Rest of the Story: Other TJ Amicus Briefs
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Asra Q. Nomani recently posted an article listing several organizations that had filed amicus curiae briefs in the case before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in which the Fairfax County School Board is appealing a district court’s ruling that the new admissions process for the Thomas Jefferson School for Science and…
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Is Virginia’s Lab School Law Constitutional?
by James C. Sherlock The Governor and General Assembly may wish to look at Virginia’s new laboratory schools law in light of the Supreme Court’s June 21, 2022 Carson v. Makin (Carson) decision. Held: Maine’s ‘nonsectarian’ requirement for otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the Free Exercise Clause. The facts of Carson, in which Maine spent…
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Picking the Wrong Fight
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the new Commonwealth’s attorneys in Northern Virginia has gotten into serious trouble. Circuit Court Judge James Plowman, in a highly unusual move, has removed the office of Loudoun County Commonwealth’s attorney Buta Biberaj from the prosecution of a case. In his order, Judge Plowman said that the prosecutor’s office had…
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Virginia State Policy Guidance Discourages Reporting of Gang-Related Assaults in Schools
By James C. Sherlock Over the last four years I always found it necessary to monitor the workings and products of both the Virginia Board of Education (BOE) appointed by two Democratic Governors and Governor Northam’s Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). The amount of radical and objectively dangerous policy that came out of that system…
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Fairfax County and Protection of Supreme Court Justices Revisited
by James C. Sherlock In response to the adjacent exhortation by Fairfax County from its home page, I am speaking up. Defend the homes of the Supreme Court Justices who live in your county. I offer breaking news to many who only read and watch progressive media, including the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Justice Kavanaugh…
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A Proposal to Mitigate Gun Violence
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In an interesting development, one of the so-called “progressive” Virginia prosecutors has identified a direct link between someone committing misdemeanor offenses and later committing violent felony offenses. The misdemeanor offenses that are predictors are gun offenses. After tracking violent case histories, Ramin Fatehi, the commonwealth’s attorney for Norfolk, as reported by WAVY…
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Instant Background Checks for Gun Purchases – What is Checked and Who Populates the Databases?
by James C. Sherlock The FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is much discussed and little understood by the general public. In an effort to help, this article will inform readers about the NICS Indices, what information is kept there and how it gets there. The information here about the NICS is quoted or…
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Red Flags in Fairfax County
by James C. Sherlock Restorative justice (RJ) in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s progressive “reforms” of the criminal justice system had better work. Because they virtually eliminate the very records of criminal and mentally disturbed misconduct by juveniles needed to support gun-purchase background checks. FCPS asserts that their RJ system…
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“Frequent Flyers” Are Not Harbingers of Anarchy
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In a recent article on this blog, Jim Bacon cited the case of Ronald Thomas as a possible harbinger of a “descent into anarchy.” One commenter cited 13 prior charges, many of which were “nol prossed”. Just looking at a list of charges and their results can be misleading. It is necessary…