Today the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia welcomes the Virginia House of Delegates decision to reject a bill (SB 1393, Saslaw) that would have shrouded Virginia’s lethal injection execution procedures in secrecy.

Yesterday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia in a case involving a Charlottesville prohibition on begging in certain parts of the downtown pedestrian mall.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virgina released the following statement by Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga regarding action by the Senate Finance Committee on HB 1287, Delegate Mark Cole’s bill to require a conviction before private property can be forfeited by the state.

Organizations across a broad spectrum of political beliefs today asked the Virginia Senate Finance Committee to report a bill that would require a criminal conviction before law enforcement may seize and keep an individual's private property.

The Virginia Coalition to Protect Women’s Health today released its public comment detailing the amendments necessary to ensure regulations for women’s health centers are medically sound and not based on political motivations.

Senate Bill 1393 (Sen. Saslaw) would allow the Department of Corrections to contract with compounding pharmacies to make up drugs for use in lethal injection and would exempt from public disclosure laws the manufacturer of and the materials and components used to create the drugs.

The bill, sponsored by Delegate Mark Cole of Spotsylvania County, supported by allies from all sides of the political spectrum, including the Virginia Tea Party Federation.

The letter from Janet M. Rainey, Virginia’s Registrar for Vital Records, to hospital administrators instructs hospitals that the children of two women who are married to each other should have both parents listed on their birth certificates.