Missing Middle — and the ongoing side-conversation about civility this topic has prompted — are front and center for the Arlington County Board this year.
Members all opined on the potential zoning changes last night (Tuesday) during their first meeting of the year, when they also unanimously elected Christian Dorsey as the chair and Libby Garvey as the Vice-Chair for 2023.
You’ll likely have to wait a few months longer to tackle those new year’s resolutions at a new gym in Clarendon.
Life Time, the self-described “luxurious athletic country club,” is set to take over much of the one-time office building at 1440 N. Edgewood Street in Clarendon, filling the multi-story, 113,000-square-foot space. The fitness center received county approval in November 2021 to allow for retail and fitness activities in the building.
The Supreme Court tends to hand down its most controversial and political decisions at the end of June, and this year’s batch did not disappoint. In this brief advertorial, we’ll review the three most important decisions with respect to immigration law and migrants: the decision preserving birthright citizenship (Trump v. Barbara), the decision which effectively allowed the Administration to abolish TPS (Mullin v. Doe), and the decision which allowed the Administration to continue to turn away almost all asylum seekers at the U.S. border (Mullin v. Al Otro Lado).
Trump v. Barbara: Birthright Citizenship Lives On
We predicted that the Administration’s attempt to abolish birthright citizenship would fail. We were right, but only just. A bare majority of five justices (Roberts, Barrett, Sotomayor, Jackson, Kagan) found that the Trump Administration’s executive order seeking to abolish birthright citizenship by fiat was barred by the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship to “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” A sixth (Justice Kavanaugh) concurred in the judgment, but did not find that birthright citizenship was guaranteed to all by the 14th Amendment, instead holding that President Trump’s executive order simply contravened 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a), which codifies birthright citizenship as a matter of statute.
Birthright citizenship is safe for the foreseeable future, even if there are changes to the court’s composition. Congress is not going to abolish or amend 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a), and it is hard to see how a new executive order could make its way before the court before the end of the current President’s term.
Mullin v. Doe: TPS is Doomed, Doomed, Doomed
We offered no prediction on Mullin v. Doe, but, truth be told, we weren’t surprised by the outcome. When the Temporary Protected Status program was enacted, Congress specifically exempted TPS determinations from judicial review. (Yes, Congress can do that!) The statutory bar was fairly stark: “[t]here is no judicial review of any determination of the [Secretary of Homeland Security] with respect to the designation, or termination or extension of a designation, of a foreign state.” The challengers argued that this bar applied only to the substantive decision to designate a country’s designation or terminate a country’s TPS designation, so the courts could review procedural steps taken along the way toward a designation. That mattered here, because the Trump Administration is (a) very bad at following proper procedures, and (b) very bad at concealing its malignancy from the public. As Justice Kagan’s dissent points out, the President of the United States has offered the following opinions about Haitians: they eat the cats and dogs of the good people of Springfield, Ohio, they “probably have AIDS,” Haiti is a “shithole country,” which is “filthy, dirty, and disgusting.” But Justice Kagan’s dissent was cosigned by only two other Justices – Sotomayor and Jackson.
Only two countries were directly affected by the decision in Mullin v. Doe – Syria and Haiti. But every other TPS-designated country (Burma, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen) is either already terminated or living on borrowed time. There is, in our judgment, no way that TPS can survive for any country if the Administration declines to extend it. (more…)
The new year is starting off with a proverbial bang for security at Reagan National Airport.
A Transportation Security Administration officer stopped an Alexandria man who tried to bring a loaded, semi-automatic folding rifle onto to a flight on New Year’s Day, the agency said. Then, three days later, the TSA allegedly confiscated a loaded, semi-automatic handgun from a Prince William County man’s carry-on baggage.
Local Mass for Late Pope — From the Catholic Diocese of Arlington: “Bishop Burbidge will celebrate a special Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI this Thursday, January 5 at 12:05 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More. May we continue to offer prayers for the peaceful repose of his soul.” [Twitter]
Suspicious Incident in Green Valley — “17th Road S. at S. Edgewood Street. At approximately 2:29 p.m. on January 1, police were dispatched to the report of a suspicious vehicle. Upon arrival, it was determined the two juvenile female victims were walking in the area when the unknown male suspect parked his vehicle, rolled down the window and made a statement about them needing a ride home. As the victims continued walking, they observed the suspect exit his vehicle and begin walking in the area.” [ACPD]
Join us for a crown-worthy evening at Penrose Square as we celebrate Arlington’s own Sandra Bullock with a special outdoor screening of Miss Congeniality.
Before the movie, create your own tiara with our friends at MOCA Arlington, then settle in for a hilarious night under the stars with one of the most beloved comedies of the 2000s.
Good Tuesday evening, Arlington. Today we published 5 articles that were read a total of 4865 times… so far.
The following are the most-read articles for today — Jan 3, 2023.
The informal, relationships-based advocacy at the core of the “Arlington Way” makes it harder for nonprofits led by and serving people of color to receive county funding, Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol says.
She tells ARLnow these concerns were raised by leaders of color, and she is working on a resolution — that could be voted on by the County Board this month — to change the status quo. The resolution will incorporate recommendations made by a small group of leaders representing local nonprofits.
Arlington County police responded to several shots fired calls on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
No one was reported to have been injured in any of the three incidents of gunfire. The first happened in the Arlington View neighborhood, between Columbia Pike and I-395.
A new locally-owned soul food restaurant is now open at the Pentagon City mall.
Soul Wingz appears to have opened last week, per its Instagram account, after several days of practice runs the week prior. It’s located next to Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, near the entrance to the Metro.
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that highlights Arlington-based startups, founders, and local tech news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
(Updated at 12:05 p.m.) Shift5, a data and cybersecurity company that protects planes, trains and tanks, is heading into 2023 in new and bigger digs in Rosslyn.
