The Equal Rights Amendment – a Two Century Fraud on American Women

February 28, 2023

Eagle Forum Denounces Resurrection of Dead Amendment

Statement of Eagle Forum President, Kristen A. Ullman, JD

"Of all the classes of people who ever lived, the American woman is the most privileged.  The claim that American women are downtrodden and unfairly treated is the fraud of the century." — Phyllis Schlafly February 1972

Congress sent ERA out to the states on March 22, 1972, with a seven-year ratification deadline. Within twelve months, 30 states had ratified ERA. But a small group of women in 1972, under the name "Stop ERA," and led by Phyllis Schlafly, took on what seemed to be an impossible task, to inform the American people and rally American women to stand up for their rights . . . as women. Over the next six years, only five more states ratified ERA, but five of the 30 states rescinded their previous ratifications of ERA, leaving a net score of zero for six years of lobbying for ERA.   The Equal Rights Amendment was presented to the American public as something that would benefit women, "put women in the U.S. Constitution," and lift women out of their so-called "second-class citizenship." However, in thousands of debates, the ERA advocates were unable to show any way that ERA would benefit women or end any discrimination against them. Most women knew they already benefited by every constitutional right that men did. The U.S. Constitution is already sex-neutral as written by our founders; men and women already have all of the rights enumerated in this document.   The last state to ratify ERA before the seven-year deadline expired was Indiana in January 1977. Despite the "unconstitutional exercise of congressional authority" (the words of US District Judge Marion Callister invalidating the extension) Congress pushed back the ratification deadline by 3 years and 8 days in 1978. It died a second death in 1982.   For the next forty years, despite dozens and dozens of votes in legislatures, committees, referenda, and Congress, the pro-ERA forces were completely unsuccessful.  That is until they conjured up a devious and unconstitutional plan called the "Three State" strategy to push additional states to ratify despite it being well passed its expiration date.  Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018) and Virginia (2020) ratified the dead amendment and then sued the Archivist of the United States to compel certification of the ERA. However, in 2021, a US District judge dismissed the lawsuit stating that not only did the states lack standing to sue, but "even if plaintiffs had standing, Congress set deadlines for ratifying the ERA that expired long ago."    Simply put, the ERA is dead and rightly so. It's clear the ERA is bad for women. It ERAses women at the expense of creating "equality". The rights of American women are protected not only by the 14th Amendment's equal protection guarantee but by Title IX, the Equal Opportunity Act of 1963, the Equal Employment Opportunity Discrimination Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Equal Pay Act.  But if ERA were to be adopted, women would lose many of the rights guaranteed by these laws. Men identifying as women would be legally allowed to usurp women's rights. They would gain access to women's sports teams, nursing rooms, prisons, and women's domestic violence shelters and put women's privacy and safety in jeopardy.  Young women would lose the ability to choose single-sex education. ERA would prohibit insurance companies from charging lower rates for women, even though actuarial data clearly show that women, as a group, are entitled to lower rates. It would eliminate workplace practices that accommodate pregnant women and undo state labor laws that protect women who do heavy, manual work.   Phyllis Schlafly and the women of the late 20th Century stood up for their rights as women and rejected the Equal Rights Amendment.  They did not back down from the feminists, the media, Hollywood, and almost every federal politician of the 1970s and 1980s.  In today's climate, when many on the left have trouble even defining the words "women" and "sex", American women are ready to wage this battle again.  We are not and have never been victims, and the liberal feminists do not speak for all women.  We at Eagle Forum know that the claim that American women are downtrodden and unfairly treated is the fraud of this century as well.

159 Members of Congress Awarded for their 100 Percent Voting Record on FRC Action's 2022 Scorecard

March 1, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Family Research Council Action (FRC Action), the legislative arm of Family Research Council, announced today its "True Blue" award winners for the Second Session of the 117^th Congress. The annual award recognizes the members of Congress who displayed unwavering commitment and support of faith, family, and freedom by voting 100% of the time with FRC Action. Last year, 138 Representatives and 21 Senators earned the award.

FRC Action President Tony Perkins made the following comments:

"In the first Congress to see a post-Roe nation, there is much to celebrate, especially for Members who have consistently --and repeatedly--stood for life in the face of a pro-abortion mob bent on intimidating Americans into their way of thinking. They also courageously stood strong against dangerous, freedom eroding laws like the Equality Act and (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act. Senators, in their Constitutional advice and consent role have stood strong against problematic Biden administration nominees such as now-FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Members of the House voted to protect women and girls from being forcibly drafted into combat military roles.

"We thank these members of Congress for defending faith, family, and freedom with their votes and their voices of leadership. They have voted to reject the overhaul our federal civil rights framework with radical gender ideology. In the post-Roe America, they have voted to protect the sanctity of human life for unborn babies in all 50 states. These members also voted to expand protections for conscience rights, reject legislation legitimizing recreational marijuana use, and fought the Department of Justice's view of concerned parents as 'terrorists.'

"Americans should be encouraged to know that they have so many members of Congress who, despite relentless attacks from the Left and the media, are standing strong for faith, family, and freedom," concluded Perkins.

To see the complete list of scored actions and how members voted, click here to download a copy of the 2022 scorecard.

Defending Communist China

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

By Gary Bauer

The reaction from Beijing to the latest U.S. intelligence assessment that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan lab was predictable communist bluster.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry huffed and puffed about the World Health Organization (WHO) report that dismissed the lab-leak theory, and said, "Certain parties should stop rehashing the 'lab leak' narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing."

For the record, the WHO is totally compromised by communist China (here and here), and its report isn't worth the paper it was printed on. (Here and here.) 

Sadly, the response from the Biden White House was just as predictable and equally pathetic. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday, "There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started. We're just not there yet."

Meanwhile, Politico reported yesterday that the Biden White House was "scaling back a planned executive order to oversee American investments in China." Why would he do that, given everything we know about communist China? Because that's what Biden's big business buddies are telling him to do.

American corporations like McDonalds, Starbucks and Tyson's Foods are rushing to get back into Beijing's good graces, and are planning major expansions into various Chinese markets.

Once again, we're seeing how certain Americans act like lawyers and lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party. 

We saw it during the Trump Administration. When the Chinese communists had to come to Washington, D.C., to sign renegotiated trade deals, they usually went to New York City first. They had a message to deliver to Wall Street firms and corporate CEOs, "Get Trump off our backs!" And many of those corporate executives did just that.

The Chamber of Commerce actually resisted Donald Trump's efforts to bring U.S. jobs back home in spite of the many ways that the pandemic demonstrated our overdependence on communist China for essential products.

This "fifth column" may well be the greatest national security threat we face.  We expect our enemies to spy on us. But what is so infuriating and unnerving is that the first instinct of many influential and powerful Americans is to defend communist China!

We're still mourning our dead from the communist Chinese coronavirus. But communist China is flying spy balloons over our country. 

They're harassing our ships and planes in the Pacific.  

They're making aggressive moves in the Arctic Circle. 

They're increasing the persecution of Chinese Christians. 

They are preparing for war.

What would Beijing have to do for some American "capitalist" CEOs to feel guilty about making money in communist China? And when hostilities break out, will they support us or will they once again defend communist China? 

The Jefferson Journal: Energy Wars Stalemate Blocks Reforms

 Energy Wars Stalemate Blocks Reforms

By Steve Haner

 

2/28/2023 -- What the 2023 General Assembly didn't pass is also an important Virginia energy policy story, starting with failure on its part to fill the two open seats on the crucial State Corporation Commission. This follows its failure last year to fill one open seat on the three-judge panel.

 

As reported previously, advocates for restored SCC authority over utility rates had more success this year than in a long time, largely because Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) was among them. The bills awaiting his signature may not mean much if the Commission itself is barely functioning. A string of major cases for 2023 was created by these new bills, with just one commissioner and perhaps some interim substitute judges to hear them.

 

The failure to agree on two names was accompanied by a refusal to pass the proposed legislation that would have given both new judges a full six-year term. Otherwise, one of them would be filling out the short remaining tenure of retired Commissioner Judith Jadgmann. She left her seat early in part to create the opportunity for Republicans and Democrats in the divided Assembly to each name one commissioner. Compromise eluded them.

 

There is one difference this time. This year, unlike last year, the Assembly is fully adjourned. Unless names appear at the reconvened session April 12, it may be possible for Youngkin to name interim commissioners, but anyone so named would have to be confirmed by the next (post-election) General Assembly.

 

The battle over SCC seats is really another battle over energy policy. How its members will rule on banking, insurance or railroad safety controversies cannot matter to legislators, but how they rule on offshore wind and solar developments are of great concern to many. The idea that commissioners might just follow the law, evidence and precedents seems like wishful thinking.

 

The deadlock over the SCC is just another result of the overall energy deadlock between the Republicans who control the House of Delegates and Democrats who control the Virginia Senate. Along with other liberal priorities, Democrats defended all the elements of the Green New Deal energy vision they adopted under Governor Ralph Northam. Nothing was rolled back this year, just as nothing was last year.

 

Once again, the House voted to pass but the Senate killed a bill to decouple Virginia from California's air pollution regulations which will soon begin to mandate certain levels of electric vehicle sales. The House voted to pass but the Senate killed legislation to prevent Virginia's local governments from restricting or banning the use of natural gas in homes and businesses.

 

This year did bring a new issue on that front, however, harder for the Democrats to just reject. Governor Youngkin has revived interest in nuclear power, clearly a no-carbon alternative and one that provides the kind of reliable baseload that can support the intermittent power generation of solar and wind facilities.

 

No law needs to pass or change for any Virginia utility to propose such a facility, or for the SCC to approve such a facility. It is just another power plant covered by the usual process for building new generation. But two major bills were introduced to give the technology a boost, in particular the small modular reactors (SMRs) likely to replace the standard nuclear designs of earlier decades.

 

Perceived as threats to the advantages and incentives in place for wind and solar and battery, both bills ultimately failed.

 

House Bill 2333 seemed to be drafted to ease the path to such a facility for Dominion Energy Virginia, since it required the developer of an SMR facility to have a prior history with nuclear plants. Legislators who elsewhere were voting to restore SCC autonomy seemed quite comfortable with this language that attempted to dictate terms to the regulators, although there was no effort to assert that SMR technology was "in the public interest" or to be "deemed reasonable and prudent."

But it did include language that such applications would be "liberally granted to facilitate" such a plant. That is where the Senate Democrats had other plans, and they sent the bill back approved, but with the following revision:

 

The costs of a small modular nuclear reactor approved under this section, other than return on projected construction work in progress and allowance for funds used during construction, shall not be recovered prior to the date such facility constructed by the utility begins commercial operation. In the event a utility abandons a small modular nuclear reactor approved under this section prior to commercial operation, the utility shall not recover any capital costs regardless of whether such costs were reasonably and prudently incurred. The Commission may impose additional conditions it believes necessary to protect customers against unreasonable construction, development, or operational risk.

 

The first thought one might have on reading that: that would have been a great addition to the bill mandating construction of the offshore wind boondoggle. Of course, Democrats had no interest in imposing such consumer protections in that case. The House Republicans wouldn't accept it on behalf of the SMR idea either, so the bill died in a conference committee.

 

House Bill 2197 was a more direct threat to the wind-solar-battery hegemony, and the gigantic global industries getting rich off that near monopoly. It would have allowed nuclear power onto the renewable energy credit gravy train, allowing it and hydrogen-fueled projects to count toward utilities meeting their renewable portfolio standards mandates. More gigawatts from nuclear might mean fewer from wind or solar (and batteries become totally unnecessary.)

 

When killing the bill in a Senate committee, which Democrats promptly did, the discussion mainly focused on the hydrogen proposal. Even with the use of hydrogen, only a subset of possible sources is favored by environmental purists, because it takes energy to split off and capture the volatile hydrogen atoms. The committee discussion devolved into a debate over blue hydrogen, green hydrogen, or brown hydrogen.

 

That was a distraction. It is nuclear power that is a real threat to the wind and solar industrial complexes. The bill went away because it wanted to treat nuclear energy as morally and legally equal to those, which under Virginia Democrats' vision for Virginia's energy future cannot be allowed.

 

To top it off, Democrats in the Senate killed a simple House bill to allow a few Southwest Virginia localities to form a local revenue sharing agreement in the event a nuclear plant got built out there. The only reason to kill that was to reinforce that no such plant is coming, not while they rule the Senate.

 

A version of this commentary originally appeared February 27 in the online Bacon's Rebellion. 

TJI: February 26th Sunday Summary

"The road to adopting the Reagan program and changing America was paved with bitter compromises. If perfection is what you're after, then running for Congress was the wrong decision. I never wrote or voted for any major legislation that didn't contain something I opposed. If you can't compromise, you can't legislate or govern." -- Former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Author of the bill that cut spending, increased military resources and mandated the Reagan tax cuts. Meanwhile …   1.) The General Assembly has adjourned.  For four years, the Thomas Jefferson Institute has called for reining in the political power of the state's reigning power monopoly, which authored the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Green Agenda legislation and many of the cost hikes customers are paying and will be paying.    Jefferson Institute Senior Fellow Steve Haner, who has earned another victory lap, will report later today that on the big energy issue in this year's General Assembly, the power of Dominion Energy Virginia was reversed for the first time and independent oversight restored to the State Corporation Commission, where it belongs -- thanks in large part to the active involvement of Governor Glenn Youngkin. It is not all we would like, but it is much that we like. The compromise is reported to save ratepayers $20 a month, and Steve's column giving you the details will arrive later today. We haven't seen it yet, but we commend it to you. Watch your "inbox."   2.) The General Assembly also passed a "skinny" budget bill, making about only about $250 million in changes where they needed to be made and providing time for the General Assembly to go home, campaign for re-election and resolve its differences over the Governor's $1 billion tax cut for Virginians (here). While home, they'll be seeking votes from voters, and those voters should let legislators know that $1 billion in tax cuts out of a $3.6 billion surplus isn't too much to ask. Governor Youngkin now has more opportunity to fight for those cuts. Since the Thomas Jefferson Institute first proposed doubling the standard deduction and reducing the corporate income tax four years ago (here), consider us in the fight. Saddle up!   3.) Securing affordable and reliable energy is a goal of conservatives and Governor Glenn Youngkin, and even The Washington Post, notes small, modular, nuclear reactors hold out promise for our energy future – especially in what was once "coal country" (here). But when the Governor pushed for state research in his proposed Virginia Power Innovation Fund, the knees of Senate Democrats jerked and struck nuclear power from the list (here). Fortunately, cooler heads on the conference committee prevailed, and research into expanded energy opportunities will move forward.   4.) Governor Youngkin has asked the Virginia Secretary of Education to review the content of the Advanced Placement African American Studies course now being piloted, to ensure it does not utilize Critical Race Theory in its instruction. The Virginia NAACP is "outraged" (here).  But writing in Commentary magazine, Christine Rosen points out some of problems with the initial AP course, especially in Unit 4, among them: "Here, students would learn about reparations for slavery in an entirely one-sided fashion, since the reading materials, among them an essay by Ta-Nehisi Coates and the text of proposed legislation for reparations, only made the case for reparations" and "a section on 'Intersectionality and Activism,' which included readings by Kimberlé Crenshaw, the self-described doyenne of that very thing the mainstream media has claimed was not being taught in K–12 public schools: Critical Race Theory." (here) While Ms. Crenshaw is no longer in the revised AP course (this is a pilot; it is intended to be corrected along the way), the Governor is in full rights to ensure that high school students will be taught to differentiate between critical race theory, critical thinking and … well, just being critical.   5.) In what is surely an incident unrelated to how history is taught, Fairfax County School Board member Abrar Omeish declared Iwo Jima as "setting a record for what human evil is capable of." (here) Ms. Omeish is more famously known for having voted against a moment of silence for 9/11 victims (here) because the resolution was "not anti-racist" and failed to consider "state-sponsored terrorism." Hopefully, Ms. Omeish will not be reviewing history courses.   6.) Of less concern to the NAACP is the prospect that smart, low-income students won't be told about their National Merit Scholarship commendations in time to use them to secure financial aid. The withholding has spread to about 16 high schools in Northern Virginia. Writing in National Review, former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani filed Freedom of Information Act requests for 2,000 documents to get the story at Thomas Jefferson High School here.   7.) These and other topics are among the reasons you might want to attend the 2nd annual Virginia Education Summit on March 25, sponsored by the Virginia Education Opportunity Alliance (the Thomas Jefferson Institute is a leader in the group). Keynote will be offered by Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, and there will be a host of other speakers. For more information, or to register, click here.   8.) As we noted last week, Senator Louise Lucas seeks to prevent spending on innovative lab schools – partnerships between colleges and public-school systems because she wants to "prop up" public schools. And while lab schools are public schools themselves, they're just not the kind Senator Lucas' friends at the teachers union get to unilaterally control. Over at Cardinal News, the voice of southwest and southside Virginia, Dwight Yancey takes the Senator to task and wades into the controversy to explain the hope such lab schools offer (here) … and that the Senator would take away.   9.) The Left's degradation of merit is precisely what is motivating one presidential candidate: Vivek Ramaswamy, the 37-year-old author who took off after the notion of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing in his book, Woke, Inc., and co-founded Strive Asset Management as an alternative to politicized asset managers like BlackRock. His announcement, a call for restoring American ideals of freedom and merit, is worth more than a quick read here.   10.)               The crowd comes for children's writers, too, but sometimes they fail. Harry Potter author JK Rowling got in trouble for suggesting that women's restrooms should be reserved, for safety reasons, for those whose birth gender was female, and a boycott of the online Hogwarts game ensued … but sales are soaring anyway (here). More recently the publishers (more like the Ministry of Truth) of Roald Dahl's stories hired "sensitivity readers" to purge his books of any words deemed unfit, including "whiteness (even of bedsheets), blackness (even of tractors), and the great Rudyard Kipling" reports Wall Street Journal children's book reviewer Meghan Cox Gurdon (here). After Salman Rushdie declared it "absurd censorship," the publisher quickly … well, compromised, and promised to publish "The Roald Dahl Classic Collection" giving buyers a choice (here). That's what they get for gobblefunking with the words. Let the free market reign! Buy classic.   Finally …These guys and gals most certainly do not compromise.   Happy Sunday, Everyone!   Write your legislators: Return your fair share!   Cordially,

Chris Braunlich President & CEO

Lessons Not Yet Learned? (Paul Jacob on two pandemic controversies)

When will we learn to distrust big government?

While readers of this Common Sense have been tracking the Wuhan Lab Leak story for two years now, most people are still behind the curve. Fortunately, another government agency has weighed in on the Lab Leak side, as reported by Michael R. Gordon and Warren P. Strobel in the Wall Street Journal: "Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, Energy Department Now Says."

No wonder there's disagreement and confusion, though: "The Energy Department made its judgment with 'low confidence,' according to people who have read the classified report," Gordon and Strobel explain. 

There remains much we do not know, of course. But we should understand that is largely because China's totalitarian regime has purposely hidden information from the world. With the full assistance of Dr. Anthony Fauci and Big Government Science in the U.S. . . . and evasive coverage by our media.

Then consult Brett Stephens' "The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?" in The New York Times last week.

Now, many of us embraced masks early on, when little was known, bascally advising mask wearing as a signal of hope. We can do something. But soon the masks themselves masked something other than hope: the raw powerlust of the elites in their lockdown tyranny over the masses.

But for actual reduction in the contagion of a virus, Stephens reports, masks are useless. Citing an Oxford epidemiologist with the great name of "Tom Jefferson," not even N-95 masks do the trick: "Makes no difference — none of it," said Jefferson.

What about those studies we were informed proved the case? They were "nonrandomized," "flawed observational studies."

Yet lots of politicians and bureaucrats — including "the mindless" Centers for Disease Control — keep pushing masks.

It's not that we cannot learn. It's that they don't want us to.

This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.

FINAL Session Update!

INTRODUCTION 

The final week of the 2023 General Assembly session included a federal holiday, record-setting warm days, and the completion of work on hundreds of bills. Session officially adjourned on Saturday, February 25^th wrapping up legislative loose ends between the House and Senate. 🇺🇸

COMMITTEES OF CONFERENCE – AND "PEACE IN THE VALLEY"

Before a bill can be sent to Governor Youngkin for his consideration, it must be approved by the House and Senate majorities. Crucially, both chambers must approve identical versions of the bill. And here, identical means identical.  Every word, letter, and punctuation mark must be the same when a bill passes the House as it was when it passed the Senate – and vice-versa.
 
In many instances, a bill approved by both chambers will have different language and provisions.  When this happens, the differences between the two versions of the same bill must be rectified.  A committee of conference, usually consisting of three delegates and three senators, are appointed to iron out the differences. During the final days of a General Assembly session, most of the work is done by legislators appointed to these committees.
 
If the legislators assigned to resolve differences on a particular bill reach an agreement, the bill goes back to both chambers for a final vote. Frequently, the legislator describing the result of the agreement announces to their chamber that there is "peace in the valley."  Because scores of bills have differences that must be resolved by conference committees, you hear this cliché a lot during the final days of every General Assembly session. 

LEGISLATION 

This year, I sponsored legislation focused on parental rights, election integrity, and public safety. In the final days of session, 9 of my 26 bills won approval and are headed to Governor Youngkin for his reviewal. Below is the list of my 9 successful bills.

• SB 964 Child day programs, certain; exempt from licensure by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
• SB 973 Sexually violent predators; civil commitment, penalty.
• SB 976 Virginia Self-Service Storage Act; default by occupant, watercraft.
• SB 986 Corporations; filing and meeting requirements.
• SB 989 Crime victim rights; notification from the attorney for the Commonwealth.
• SB 1054 Interjurisdictional compacts; criminal history record checks
• SB 1055 High Bridge Trail State Park; conveyance of easement to Woodrow R. Jackson, Sr.
• SB 1056 High Bridge Trails State Park; DCR to convey property to Roy B. Stanton, Jr., etc.
• SB 1132 Criminal history record information; dissemination.

Unfortunately, 17 of my bills did not even make it over to the House due to Senate democrats killing them in committee. Important, common sense bills like Election Integrity and Youth Health Protection were too much for Senate democrats in committees to vote for. Click Here for a video that shows highlights of me fighting for the people in Richmond on various common-sense issues that democrats continuously shut down.  
 

THE "SKINNY" BUDGET

What, you may reasonably ask, is a "skinny" budget, and how did it come to be? The first
thing you need to understand is that Virginia has an existing biennial budget that is in force
through June of 2024 – 16 months from now. That budget was approved last year. What the
General Assembly has been working on this year is amendments to that budget. Once a biennial
budget is approved, the General Assembly customarily amends it the next year to reflect changes
in revenues and, on some occasions, priorities.
 
This year, the Commonwealth has received over $3 billion in revenues that were not
anticipated in the budget passed last year. The Governor and the Republican-majority House
want to allocate a portion of those revenues to lower taxes. The Democrat-majority Senate wants
to spend those funds instead.
 
Budget negotiations are made more difficult when the two sides negotiating don't agree
on how much they have to spend. Since the House budget allocates a significant portion of the
excess revenues to lowering taxes, it lowers the funds available to be spent on government.
Although both plans spend more on government than what was approved last year, the Senate
plan spends a lot more. Hence, a stalemate.
 
When budget negotiations broke down late in the final week, the Chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee indicated the two sides were about $1 billion apart. Not so
coincidently, that's close to the amount of tax relief being proposed by Governor Youngkin and
supported by Republicans in the House and Senate.
 
The solution to this stalemate was to produce a substantially smaller package of budget
amendments that contained only those items requiring immediate attention upon which both
sides can agree. Or, more succinctly, a "skinny" budget.
 
The plan includes extra funds to ensure public schools receive the same level of funding they had been anticipating, correcting an error made last June when they were given incorrect estimates of what to expect. It also adds an additional $250 million to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), strengthening that long-term obligation. Keeping Virginia's fiscal house in order and protecting our AAA bond rating, the plan
adds over $400 million to the Rainy-Day Fund and $100 million to the fund that covers any cost
overruns on capital improvement projects that have already been approved.
 
With those essential responsibilities covered, budget negotiators can continue their work
on other priorities as they determine how to allocate the remainder of the unanticipated revenues.
If an agreement is reached, legislators will return to Richmond to vote on it. If one is not
reached, the decision on what to do with those excess funds will be made by the next General
Assembly in 2024.
 

       

     
Outside the Senate Chamber. 
  
Honoring the family of the late Campbell Circuit Court Judge Samuel Johnston, Jr.

The Peake Power Team; Ashley, Sue, and Matt.

CONCLUSION

The Senate of Virginia's work for this year is not complete. We're scheduled to return to the Capitol on April 12 to consider Governor Youngkin's amendments to the legislation we passed this session. With the regular session of the General Assembly done for 2023, we're now back in the district.

I really appreciate those who have taken the time to read my dispatches from Richmond this session. I am also truly grateful to everyone who reached out to my office and/or met with me in person while in Richmond. I am here to work and serve the People of the 22nd District; please do not hesitate to reach out to my office or to follow me on social media! You can reach us at (434) 455-3392, or by sending an email to district22@senate.virginia.gov. Social media linked below ⬇️

    

Sincerely,

Senator Mark Peake

22^nd Senatorial District

Fwd: March 4 - Super Saturday Kickoff

Visit www.culpepergop.org for all the latest news and events.

Join MRPF for the 2nd Annual Virginia Education Summit!

The Middle Resolution Policy Foundation in collaboration with the Virginia Education Opportunity Alliance is pleased to host our 2nd Education Summit on March 25 at the Virginia Crossings Hotel and Conference Center. Our special guest, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears will be joining our lineup of outstanding keynote speakers!

Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears was elected in 2021. She is a strong vocal proponent of providing educational opportunities for every child in Virginia be it improving and reforming our public schools, offering families school choice options or insisting on educational scholarships for disadvantaged students. We have no stronger advocate for the children who reside in our Commonwealth than Lieutenant Governor Sears. We welcome her to this important Education Summit! Register today for a packed day of information on these important topics: Education Entrepreneurship Reforming our Public Schools Protecting Parental Rights Options for school choice for all children in the Commonwealth and more! Need a hotel room to stay the night? You can stay at the Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center.

Your Middle Resolution Team

Register for the Second Annual Virginia Education Summit

Should Aliens who Obstruct Justice Stay?

February 23, 2023

IRLI shows Supreme Court that definition of obstruction in deportation statute should not be narrowed

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in two consolidated cases that will have wide bearing on whether criminal aliens get to stay in this country. At issue is whether the Board of Immigration Appeals reached the correct interpretation of a federal law making aliens deportable if they have committed an offense "relating to obstruction of justice."   In its brief, IRLI shows that the Board was right to hold that an alien has committed such an offense if he has been convicted of violating a state statute that makes it a crime to obstruct an investigation that is either already begun or likely to take place. Such a crime clearly "relates to" the obstruction of justice, and, indeed, constitutes the obstruction of justice in state criminal codes.   IRLI also shows that the so-called "rule of lenity," under which doubts about the meaning of unclear criminal statutes are resolved in favor of the defendant, is inapplicable to the federal civil law making certain criminal aliens deportable. Deportation is not a punishment, but an exercise of the sovereign's power to remove aliens from the country according to law. In any event, all possible lenity is already built into the Board's interpretation, in which an offense "relating to obstruction of justice" means an offense constituting obstruction of justice.   "No national interest is served by making the categories of criminal aliens who are deportable narrower than Congress intended, nor by letting aliens who have committed serious crimes stay in this country," said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. "We hope the Court sees these cases in the proper context, and protects the people of the United States by upholding the Board's reasonable interpretation."   The cases are Pugin v. Garland, No. 22-23, and Garland v. Cordero-Garcia, No. 22-331 (Supreme Court).