August 2011 Archives

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a conspiracy claim filed by a coalition of homeless and formerly homeless people this week, finding that the group had failed to make its case.

On Wednesday, the circuit court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of all claims in A Society Without a Name, For People Without a Home, Millennium Future-Present v. Virginia, (ASWAN v. Virginia). In the suit, ASWAN alleged that the defendants had conspired to establish the Conrad Center on Oliver Hill Way, a site removed from Richmond’s downtown community, for the purpose of reducing the presence of the homeless population in the downtown area by providing services for them in a remote location.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage and maximum work hours to regulate employer-employee relationships and minimize detrimental work conditions.

The FLSA, however, has one major limitation: a person who files an FLSA retaliation claim against an employer must currently work for the employer or have worked for the employer in the past. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that a prospective employee whose employment offer was withdrawn does not have a retaliation claim under the FLSA.

Is deity-specific government prayer more offensive than generic government prayer?

Last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Forsyth County and the Alliance Defense Fund, finding that the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners may not open its meetings with an invocation naming a specific deity.

This week, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners voted to appeal to Fourth Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Perry was found dead on Sunday. He would have turned 90 this week.

Perry, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, was one of the first black men from the South appointed to a federal court. He was still serving as a senior U.S. District Court judge for South Carolina at the time of his death.