An Arlington law professor is representing a lawsuit attempting to end President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.
Ilya Somin, a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, is serving as co-counsel for litigation filed shortly after Trump’s 10% tariff on all imports from most countries went into effect earlier this month.
A perennial Arlington County Board candidate’s lawsuit against The Washington Post has been dismissed.
A district court judge in D.C. threw out Audrey Clement’s suit — which alleged age discrimination and defamation — following oral arguments this week, court records show.
The Arlington County Board has unanimously voted to appeal a judge’s ruling on Missing Middle zoning changes.
The county’s lawyers had previously said they planned to contest the circuit court decision, which prevents the county from issuing any more permits under the much-debated Expanded Housing Option. However, the Arlington County Board had not held a public vote on an appeal until yesterday (Tuesday).
An Arlington County Board candidate is suing The Washington Post over the publication’s reporting on her age.
The lawsuit by independent candidate Audrey Clement, which alleges age discrimination and defamation, concerns a candidate questionnaire that the Post ran in October 2021.
By OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press/Report for America
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Virginia election officials Friday that accuses the state of striking names from voter rolls in violation of federal election law.
By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A coalition of immigrant-rights groups and the League of Women Voters in Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares of an ongoing “purge” of voter rolls that will disenfranchise legitimate voters.
As the much-anticipated Missing Middle trial began this week, the Arlington NAACP is arguing that the case has wide-ranging implications for racial equity.
In a 55-page amicus brief filed in advance of opening statements on Monday, the local NAACP chapter argued that single-family zoning has racist origins and that undoing Missing Middle would be a step backward for racial progress.
The first Missing Middle case to be heard in Arlington Circuit Court was dismissed last week, but legal fees in another lawsuit against the county continue to balloon.
The dismissed lawsuit related to a pair of planned six-plexes in Alcova Heights, approved after the Expanded Housing Option changes. A judge struck the suit down on Friday “due to technical defects,” Zachary Williams, an attorney for developer Classic Cottages, told ARLnow.
Over the past couple of weeks ARLnow has reported on a pair of lawsuits against Arlington County.
There’s the ongoing suit against the Missing Middle zoning changes, which has the support of at least two candidates for County Board. And there’s a lawsuit against the Pentagon City Sector Plan, by condo residents upset about proposed development on the RiverHouse site potentially being detrimental to their property values and view of D.C.
The approval of Missing Middle and the sector plan both had supporters and outspoken critics when approved unanimously by the County Board.
Both suits ultimately rely on technicalities. An appellate judge in the sector plan suit rejected more substantive arguments about the proposed development and instead nullified the plan based on an insufficiently descriptive legal notice ad. The Missing Middle suit, meanwhile, primarily argues that the changes were insufficiently advertised and inadequately studied for potential impacts.
One could argue that such suits hold the Board accountable for discrepancies in its processes, while at minimum delaying policies that some people strongly disagree with. One could also argue that it’s a waste of taxpayer money that delays policies that duly elected representatives supported and still support.
Regardless of the reasons why, today we’re asking readers: do you support these lawsuits against the county?
Photo via Joe Gratz/Flickr
County government requests for extensive documentation in a Missing Middle lawsuit have expanded to include an outspoken critic who’s helping to fund the suit.
Attorneys representing Arlington County contacted Dan Creedon, one of the founders of the anti-Missing Middle group Neighbors for Neighborhoods (NfN), with a broad subpoena last week. The request includes:
Arlington spent $74,000 in two months combating a lawsuit over Missing Middle housing, public records show, drawing the ire of a County Board candidate.
The county, which hired law firm Gentry Locke at the start of this year, paid $49,251 for services in January and $24,536 in February, according to invoices. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign for the lawsuit — which alleges that Arlington failed to adequately study the impacts of Missing Middle before approving the zoning change — has raised about $69,000 since last June.
Two Arlington attorneys are suing a Virginia sheriff’s office over a brutal triple homicide carried out by a deputy who, court documents allege, was hired illegally.
The deputy, 28-year-old Austin Edwards, reportedly lied about his age while soliciting sexual photos from a 15-year-old girl in California in 2022. When the teen rejected Edwards’ advances, he drove to California, claimed authority as a deputy to gain entry into a home and killed her mother and grandparents, according to legal filings.
