North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Where a West Virginia statute governing the order in which candidates’ names appear on state election ballots was neutral and nondiscriminatory, and any modest burden on the Democratic Party’s rights was justified by the state’s interests in promoting efficiency and ...
Read More »Constitutional – State commission is immune from vacation homeowners’ takings claim
Where property owners in South Nags Head alleged the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission committed a taking when it denied them permission to rebuild their vacation home due to environmental regulations, the suit was dismissed because the commission has sovereign ...
Read More »Constitutional – Girls claim charter school dress code violates Title IX
Where a charter school required girls to wear either skirts, jumpers or skorts, instead of pants or shorts, the district court must determine whether this requirement violated Title IX by excluding the plaintiffs from participation, denying them education benefits or ...
Read More »Constitutional – City may ban females from going topless
Where the court previously held that protecting the portion of society that disfavored public display of female breasts furthers an important governmental interest, and the Supreme Court has not held otherwise, Ocean City’s ordinance prohibiting women from going topless was ...
Read More »Constitutional — Due Process – Notice – Pro Se Defendant – Wrong Address
Since the record does not reflect that defendant was served with the trial court’s order allowing defense counsel to withdraw, the pre-trial order, calendar notice, or notice of trial at any address, we conclude that a failure to provide proper ...
Read More »Constitutional – U.S. pre-publication rule doesn’t violate First Amendment
Where former employees of national security agencies voluntarily signed agreements giving the agencies prepublication review of certain materials they intend to publish, they knowingly waived their First Amendment rights to challenge the requirement that they submit materials for review. Moreover, ...
Read More »Constitutional – Baltimore enjoined from aerial surveillance
Where the City of Baltimore’s aerial surveillance program likely violates the Fourth Amendment by allowing the tracking of individuals without a warrant, its continued operation was enjoined. Background Plaintiffs moved to enjoin implementation of the Aerial Investigation Research, or AIR, ...
Read More »Constitutional – Public gets ‘contemporaneous’ access to complaints
Where there is a historic right of access to judicial documents because they provide the public with insight into the functioning of the judicial process, two Virginia courts were ordered to provide “contemporaneous’’ access to newly filed complaints. Background Courthouse ...
Read More »Constitutional – N.C. abortion providers had standing to challenge law
Where North Carolina amended its statutes in 2015 to require an abortion be performed by a “qualified” physician and to narrow the definition of a medical emergency, those changes evidenced a continuing state interest in regulating abortion that, with the ...
Read More »Constitutional – Ban on broadcasting criminal proceedings challenged
Where Maryland Rules require the recording of proceedings and allow the public to obtain copies of those proceedings, a ban on broadcasting those recordings was subject to strict scrutiny. Because the district court applied only intermediate scrutiny in upholding the ...
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