Free Republic

In divorce case judge rules human embryos may be valued and sold, and therefore may be considered ‘goods or chattels’Frozen human embryos can legally be considered property, or “chattel”, a Virginia judge has ruled, basing his decision in part on a 19th-century law governing the treatment of enslaved people. The preliminary opinion by a Fairfax county circuit court judge, Richard Gardiner, which he delivered in a long-running dispute between a divorced husband and wife, is being criticized by some for wrongly and unnecessarily delving into a time in Virginia history when it was legal to own human beings. “It’s repulsive...

A Virginia commonwealth's attorney backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros tanked an effort to recall a Democratic school board member who prevented students from returning to classrooms. The Open Fairfax County Public Schools Coalition, a parents' group, in July reached the signature threshold to recall Elaine Tholen, a school board member who refused to reopen schools during the coronavirus pandemic. James Hingeley, the court-appointed attorney assigned to represent them in the case, dismissed Open Fairfax County Public Schools' petition on Friday. Hingeley, a Democrat who campaigned alongside Tholen in 2019, received $5,000 that year from the Soros-funded Justice and Safety...