Category: Courts and law
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An Alleged Wrongful Death in Colonial Heights Revisited
by James C. Sherlock I published in February 2025 a series of articles on a nursing home wrongful death scandal that was revealed when police swarmed Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (Colonial Heights) in late December of 2024. The government has alleged in court that a woman, helpless with cerebral palsy and diabetes, died…
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Judge Affirms Senate Dems’ Power Grab
A Fairfax County circuit county judge has sided with state Senate Democrats who filed a lawsuit to prevent eight public university board members appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin from continuing to serve. The Democrats claimed that an 8-to-4 vote June 9 by a Senate subcommittee during a special session required no other action. Youngkin and…
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Constitutional Law 101
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The lawyers in the federal Dept. of Education and the Youngkin administration either don’t understand a court decision or are choosing to ignore it. The department has notified the school districts of Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William that their policies allowing transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that…
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Are ICE’s Courthouse Crackdowns Justified?
by James A. Bacon Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have discovered that an easy way to crack down on illegal-alien criminals is to pick them up in local courthouses where they are processed for alleged crimes and misdemeanors. It strikes me that ICE is entirely within its rights, but the strategy does have unintended…
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Who is the Threat?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Richmond Times-Dispatch recently reported on three men caught up in Virginia’s criminal justice system. The first is Jordan Shelton, a 28-year-old Richmond man. He was on trial in Greene County on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, for which he could have gotten a sentence of ten years. Two years ago, Shelton was driving…
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Dhillon Defends DOJ Pressure on UVA
by James A. Bacon The Department of Justice (DOJ) tried for three months to get answers to questions about the University of Virginia’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program but never received a substantive answer, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights division told CNN news anchor Jake Tapper. “They didn’t respond at all?”…
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Skating on the Edge of Judicial Ethics
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Thanks to the reporting of the Fredericksburg Free Press, more detail is available on the case of the Spotsylvania County judge indicted on bribery charges. As noted in an earlier article in Bacon’s Rebellion, Richard T. McGrath, chief district court judge of the 15th Judicial District, which includes Spotsylvania County, was indicted…
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White Children Deserve Equity, Too
by Paul Goldman Did you know the Constitution of Virginia denies white children the right to equal educational opportunities? Indeed, not just denied: but intentionally denied by the drafters of Article VIII, the Educational Clause. The denial is particularly damaging to white children in the Western and rural parts of the state. That’s right: Trump…
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Lawsuit Alleges Principal Made False Racism Claims
Elected officials fanned the flames about an alleged racist incident at Kellam High School—creating community scorn for the students and families. by Victoria Manning Three Virginia Beach parents filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit on June 2nd against Kellam High School principal Ryan Schubart contending Schubart wrongly accused their children of racism. The families claim…
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Big Church Vs. Little Church
by Chap Petersen Last Thursday, my law firm filed a First Amendment appeal with the Virginia Supreme Court to protect a small congregation in Fairfax County at risk of losing a $4 million dollar property due to an archaic legal principle favoring national denominations, which neither own nor invest in their members’ properties. Shalom Presbyterian…
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Making America Great Again
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Is this what makes America great again? Before you answer, consider: Finally, can anyone identify a period in this country’s history (“again”) when such actions were considered to have made America great?
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AG Wins $750,000 Verdict in Racial Discrimination Case
by James A. Bacon In a case prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Civil Rights, a Franklin County jury rendered a $750,000 verdict against a landlord for evicting two families from her rental property on Smith Mountain Lake after learning that one of the family members was black. “Housing discrimination—and discrimination of any kind—will…
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Youngkin Commutes Killer’s Sentence
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Well, this is a turnabout! Steve Descanos, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s attorney much maligned in Bacon’s Rebellion for being woke and soft on crime, secured a guilty verdict in a trial involving the killing of an unarmed man. Two days after the offender was sentenced by the presiding judge, Governor Youngkin commuted…
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Virginia’s New Jersey Problem
Updated Jan 27 @ 16:30 by James C. Sherlock New-found evidence points to New Jersey-operated business plans that may result in severe threats to patient health and safety in up to 56 Virginia nursing homes. At least one person has already died. Current government allegations in the wrongful death scandal surrounding Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing…
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A Horrible Death in Colonial Heights – Part Four. Dangerous Chameleons
by James C. Sherlock Virginia authorities have criminally charged 18 employees of Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (CHNRC) with criminal acts in the terrible suffering and death of a woman from sepsis alleged to have occurred because of negligence in that facility. In Part 3 of this series we discussed who else may be…