Justice Scalia approaches the healthcare debate as a political one
In the recent oral arguments over the healthcare debate, Justice Antonin Scalia showed in his questioning that the debate for him was about politics, not about law.
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Foreign drugs can’t be imported to kill people
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon has ruled that states who want to use sodium pentothal as a part of the mixture of drugs that goes into a lethal injection can’t use imported pentothal, because the FDA has not certified that it is safe. Conservatives have the knee-jerk reaction — “judicial activism” — but any analysis of what “judicial activism” disproves that idea.
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Culpeper murder verdict reversal highlights flaws in system
Michael Hash was falsely imprisoned for 12 years on a capital murder conviction based on prosecutorial and police misconduct. And Virginia’s trial procedures need to change so that this doesn’t happen again.
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Protestors at Virginia Capitol arrested
Protestors at the Virginia Capitol were arrested on “unlawful assembly” charges, charges that will almost surely be thrown out.
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Charlottesville can say “no message ads” on City buses
Charlottesville’s policy of not allowing ads for non-profit and political campaigns on the sides of City buses is constitutional, because the United States Supreme Court has held that ad space on the sides of buses is not a “public forum.”
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Federal Judge Rebukes Perry for Delay
Judge John Gibney of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia gave a 22-page smackdown to the campaigns of Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, John Huntsman and Rick Santorum when he ruled that he would not grant an injunction that would have required the State Board of Elections to put them on the
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US Supreme Court will decide drug sniff case
Florida v. Jardines asks the Supreme Court to decide whether taking a drug dog to the front door of a house so that it can sniff for the presence of marijuana is a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. After looking at the relevant Supreme Court cases, I think the Court will uphold the sniff and reverse the Florida Supreme Court.
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The Virginia Republican Primary and their “loyalty oath”
The State Board of Elections has decided that the 2012 Virginia Republican Primary for President should be closed only to those who have pledged to support their nominee. While there is no prohibition on them imposing such a requirement, it is a requirement that should have been enacted no later than December 7. But it wasn’t adopted until December 28. Now the RPV is reconsidering.
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Rick Perry’s lawsuit to get on the ballot…
Rick Perry’s lawsuit to get on the ballot for the Virginia Republican primary raises interesting issues, but ultimately it will lose.
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It’s not a crime to not carry proof of insurance
Under Virginia law, every driver is required to have liability insurance on his or her car, or else pay an administrative fee of $500 that goes into an uninsured motorists’ fund. Although it is always a good idea to carry proof of liability insurance with you, it is not actually a crime NOT to have
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