Wednesday, August 8, 2007

"Omnibus" lawsuit challenges the transportation bill

Deciding to take a broad swipe at the transportation bill, attorney Patrick McSweeney, representing eighteen plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit attacking the constitutionality of the transportation bill on many different levels. The article notes that Delegate Robert Marshall, one of the plaintiffs, requested a legal opinion on the new law from the attorney general but did not receive one. The only public response from the attorney general's office on the constitutionality of the new law is that "Virginia's laws are presumed to be constitutional. The Supreme Court of Virginia has concluded that reasonable doubt as to the constitutionality of a legislative enactment must be resolved in favor of its validity." Seems like that answer begs the question.