Court Cases

The ACLU of Virginia and Ali and Lockwood LLP filed two related cases challenging the Virginia Department of Corrections’ (VDOC) refusal to implement the earned sentence credit program according to the law, resulting in the over-detention of potentially hundreds of people in VDOC’s custody. Welch and Weerapunyanont v. Dotson et al. and Whitmore v. Walters, both class action lawsuits, seek damages to compensate people who have served more time than they should have, and injunctive relief to ensure that VDOC implements the law properly going forward.

On January 23, 2024 the ACLU of Virginia, the Institute for Justice and ACLU National filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Virginia in support of Ms. Leach-Lewis.

The ACLU of Virginia, along with the ACLU, the ACLU of North Carolina, and the North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Appellant-Plaintiff Charlie Hardin.

The ACLU of Virginia, along with the ACLU, the League of Women Voters of Virginia, and the National Black Nonpartisan Redistricting Organization, filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Virginia in a case involving a challenge to House Bill 1255 (2020), a bill which set standards and criteria that the Virginia Redistricting Commission must follow when drawing new legislative districts, including the end of prison gerrymandering.

The ACLU of Virginia filed an amicus brief in the case of Commonwealth v. Galen Baughman in Arlington County Circuit Court. The brief supports Mr. Baughman’s assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in response to an incriminating questionnaire required to be completed as part of his court-ordered treatment.

In the final days of 2020, the ACLU of Virginia filed an amicus brief in the case of Commonwealth of Virginia v. Harwinder Sangha in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, which invited amici to address whether the Circuit Court should proceed with a misdemeanor trial even though the Commonwealth Attorney for Fairfax County, Steve Descano, had decided he would not—and could not ethically—dedicate valuable prosecutorial resources toward low-level misdemeanors such as the one in this case, given the sheer number of criminal cases his office handles.