State lawmakers who represent Norfolk are backing one of their own for a vacant judgeship on the Norfolk General District Court, according to a letter obtained by The Virginia Mercury.The General Assembly's Norfolk delegation is proposing Del. Joe Lindsey, D-Norfolk, a trial lawyer who has also served as a...
State prison officials estimate that more than 14,000 inmates in Virginia could see their release dates moved up under legislation awaiting Gov. Ralph Northam’s signature.The bill, backed by General Assembly Democrats and unanimously opposed by GOP lawmakers, would let inmates cut their sentences by a third as long as...
Motorola was the only company interested in bidding on an expensive project to update Virginia’s statewide public safety radio system, an outcome that led a competitor to complain the process was one-sided and drew scrutiny from a top lawmaker.The Statewide Agencies Radio System, or STARS, began with a $329...
The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled Thursday that police in Fairfax County can resume a surveillance program that passively logged the date, time and location license plates pass by one of their automated readers.The decision overturns a Fairfax County judge’s ruling last year that the data collection program violated...
Police in Virginia almost never release case files and body camera footage, even long after their investigations have concluded.A bill aimed at changing that failed during the special legislative session, which concluded last week. But lawmakers are already working to revise the legislation in response to concerns raised by...
A special legislative session largely devoted to police reform in Virginia ended Friday with law enforcement groups sounding more comfortable with the package of bills that passed than activists who had been pushing for sweeping change following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.“At the end of the day,...
Virginia lawmakers passed a closely watched bill Friday aimed at ensuring people can exercise their right to a jury trial without risking much steeper punishments.Criminal justice reform advocates frequently called the legislation one of the most important changes the General Assembly could adopt during a special legislative session that...
WASHINGTON — A University of Virginia law professor defended Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the highest court in the U.S. during Thursday’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing.Saikrishna Prakash, a conservative who clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, said that Barrett’s success as a law professor at Notre Dame would help...
By Calvin Schermerhorn, Arizona State UniversityAs a political battle over the Supreme Court’s direction rages in Washington with President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, history shows that political contests over the ideological slant of the court are nothing new.In the 1860s, President Abraham Lincoln worked with fellow...
A group that represents landlords around the state is asking the Supreme Court of Virginia to make it easier for them to move eviction lawsuits through the court system.In a letter late last week to Chief Justice Don Lemons, the Virginia Apartment Management Association requested the court issue an...
