In a 2-to-1 ruling, the three-judge panel declared that the Peace Cross violated the First Amendment by having “a primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government and religion.” Douglas Laycock, a religious liberties scholar and professor at the UVA School of Law, praised the decision. The cross “asserts the truth of one religion and, implicitly but necessarily, the falsehood of all other religions,” he said. “Its secondary meanings, as in honoring war dead, are entirely derivative of its primary meaning as a symbol of the Resurrection.”
Amul Thapar was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in March, and assumed the position in May after being confirmed with a 52-44 vote in the U.S. Senate. The seat that Thapar filled had been vacant since 2013. Thapar teaches multiple college classes at the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University and the Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.
(By Brandon Garrett, Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law) For 15 months, the lawyers appointed to represent Carlos Manual Ayestas in a 1997 Texas death penalty case did not investigate the facts to prepare for the trial. It took the jury just 12 minutes to decide he should die for committing the murder. On Monday, the Supreme Court hears arguments in the case.
UVA has completed its first successful harvest of hemp plants in collaboration with a private plant biotechnology company. The harvest – coming after the first year of a three-year, $1.1 million sponsored research agreement between UVA and biotech company 22nd Century Group – is one of several private-public partnerships across the commonwealth investigating hemp and medical marijuana.
A small pilot study has shown promising results from the use of focused ultrasound on Parkinson’s patients with tremors that previously had resisted medical treatment. After three months, the treatment, overseen by Dr. Jeff Elias of the University of Virginia, restored some fine motor skills and increased the quality of life of participants.
UVA students and faculty created a temporary addition to Thomas Jefferson’s vision for a living and learning community. The final product – a series of interlocking arches made of nontoxic, recyclable polypropylene plastic – is very different from the neoclassical style that Thomas Jefferson admired. However, Jefferson likely would have been fascinated by the technology used in its production.
A former dean of the University of Virginia’s law school has passed away. Richard Austin Merrill, 80, died Thursday in Albemarle County. Merrill was a Utah native who graduated from Columbia University and was selected as a Rhodes scholar in 1959. He joined the UVA faculty in 1969, and served as the law school’s dean from 1980 until 1988. The University will hold a memorial service for Merrill in the coming weeks.
(By Rita Dove, Commonwealth Professor of English) If I were allowed to rub the genie’s lamp, I’d ask for public support of theater, ballet and opera companies with resident troupes in our country. I’d establish art centers all over small-town and rural America and integrate them with school systems, making access affordable; high-quality live performances should not just be for the wealthy.
UVA professor Larry Sabato is an expert on JFK's assassination and authored the 2013 book, "The Kennedy Half-Century. He joined "CBS This Morning: Saturday" from Virginia to discuss the most interesting new information in the files.
Two UVA students are building a business that combines their desire to train young athletes with a wish amongst college athletes to make some money off their sports skills.
Larry J. Sabato, the founder and director of UVA’s Center for Politics, and a team of researchers were reviewing the files on Thursday night. He sent a report of what they had found so far: “As expected, these incomplete raw files are, often, a mess. Handwritten notes from the C.I.A. and others are often illegible. It will take an enormous amount of work and lots of time to put this together. Think of this as an unassembled million-piece puzzle. Since the good stuff has mainly been withheld for now – or forever – we are primarily looking for obscure clues and shiny objects. Here, the file...
UVA’s Center for Politics identified eight Republicans facing competitive challenges and two Democrats. The incumbent who seems to be facing the strongest challenge is Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-67), who sent out mailers emphasizing his work with Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. "This is probably the best chance Democrats have of taking out a GOP incumbent,” said Geoff Skelley, media relations coordinator at the Center for Politics. “Jim LeMunyon occupies the most Democratic seat held by a Republican in the House of Delegates.”
Experts warned that although the poll suggested a large lead for the Democrats, the actual vote was still another 12 months ago. “Look, nobody knows which pollster is right, but I have to say this is by far the largest advantage Democrats have achieved in any survey,” said Larry Sabato, professor of politics at the University of Virginia.
“We think there will be documents that indicate that he was on the radar screen of the CIA and the FBI, that they did trace him to Mexico City and this visit that he made in the months leading up to the assassination with the Soviets and with the Cubans. We just don't know to what extent these documents will reveal what was going on in those trips to Mexico City or after,” said Barbara Perry, of the University of Virginia.
It’s not unusual for today’s families to live in multiple states. Adult children may follow jobs around the globe; parents may move away when they retire to a resort community or return to a childhood hometown. “The good intention is to allow the elder to age in place as long as possible,” said Brenda Wilson, director of UVA’s Faculty and Employee Assistance Program. “A couple of hospitalizations may tell the child that this is ‘as long as possible.’ I think a lot of people know it when they get there.”
“If you have enough money as a company, organization, political action committee representing the company, whatever the nature of the group donating is, you may decide that it’s worth it to give money to both sides because at the end of the day it can’t look negatively on you when only one of them wins. At least you’ll have given money,” said Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst at UVA’s Center for Politics.
Scholars and sleuths say the CIA is pushing Trump to keep some of the materials secret. The spy agency isn't denying that. "Clearly there are documents, plural, files, plural, being appealed to him," said UVA historian Larry Sabato, an authority on Kennedy. Of the pressure on Trump, Sabato said, "I'm told reliably that it continues and that it has intensified." The historian said documents generated in the 1990s that could contain the names of people who are still alive are of particular concern to those who want files held back.
Researchers were frustrated by the uncertainty that surrounded the release for much of the day. "The government has had 25 years - with a known end-date - to prepare #JFKfiles for release," UVA historian Larry Sabato tweeted in the afternoon. "Deadline is here. Chaos." Asked what he meant, Sabato emailed to say: "Contradictory signals were given all day. Trump's tweets led us to believe that disclosure was ready to go. Everybody outside government was ready to move quickly."
The CIA and FBI may be blocking the release of certain documents to hide their own failings, said Larry Sabato, a UVA professor of politics and the author of “The Kennedy Half Century.”
(By Rita Dove, Commonwealth Professor of English) If I were allowed to rub the genie’s lamp, I’d ask for public support of theater, ballet and opera companies with resident troupes in our country. I’d establish art centers all over small-town and rural America and integrate them with school systems, making access affordable; high-quality live performances should not just be for the wealthy. Let’s educate our citizenry in the appreciation of beauty through artistic performance, which over time might allow us to connect on levels where differences in race, class and gender lose their insidi...