Court: State can’t privacy advocate from publishing most records found on government websites

Contributors

In an order signed Wednesday, United States District Court Judge Robert E. Payne ruled that privacy advocate B.J. Ostergren may post public records that contain Social Security Numbers on her website, despite a 2008 Virginia law prohibiting the dissemination of such information. The injunction, which was agreed upon by Ostergren and Virginia Attorney General Ken…

Cuccinelli responds to Supreme Court decision in Westboro case

Chris Graham

The United States Supreme Court voted 8-1 to uphold an appeals court decision to overturn a $5 million verdict against a Kansas church that protests the funerals of American soldiers to bring attention to its message that God is punishing the U.S. for its embrace of gays and lesbians. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was…

Frank Knapp Jr.: A warning for U.S. democracy

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Make no mistake about it – the peaceful Egyptian revolution was brought about by the workers and small business owners of that country protesting together. They want economic opportunity for all and a democratically elected government that puts its peoples’ interests above the interests of the financially powerful, well-connected oligarchy. There is a lesson here…

Appeals court expedites hearing of Virginia’s health care lawsuit

Chris Graham

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday granted a joint motion from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the federal government to expedite the hearing of Virginia’s suit against the federal health-care law. The case is tentatively scheduled for hearing sometime between May 10 and 13. The joint motion replaces a briefing…

Supreme Court declines to intervene in college free-press case

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that allows restrictions on alcohol-related advertising in college publications in Virginia. However, arguments against the restrictions will continue in the lower courts. “We are disappointed that the Supreme Court decided not to hear this important First Amendment…

Court hears arguments in AG challenge to health-care reform

Chris Graham

A federal judge heard arguments for the state and for the federal government in a case brought by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-care reform bill passed and signed into law earlier this year. Judge Henry E. Hudson said in Monday’s hearing in Richmond that he will hand down…

Supreme corporations

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Column by Gene Nichol Submit guest columns: [email protected]    I am Texan by birth and Southern by acculturation. My family would attest I’m not beyond relating stories that mysteriously expand upon each re-telling. Given my trade, I read much of Madison, Hamilton, Story and Marshall. But, truth told, I prefer Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Woody…

Perriello introduces legislation to ban foreign corporate money from U.S. elections

Chris Graham

   Staff Report News tips: [email protected] Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello has introduced legislation that would ban electioneering activity by corporations whose shareholders include any foreign nationals. Perriello introduced H.R. 4523, the Save Our Democracy From Foreign Influence Act of 2010, to close a dangerous loophole that “would appear to afford the same protection to…

Erik Camayd-Freixas | What court ruling on identity theft means to migrants

Contributors

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican migrant worker from Illinois convicted of identity theft in 2007. Like most migrant workers, Flores-Figueroa did not know that the Social Security number in the false papers he was forced to buy in order to get work was a number that…