Local Courts in the USA

In England and Wales we have a single legal system - which has criminal and civil aspects. In the United States the state legal system (for example that of Virginia, Maryland, Wisconsin or California) exists alongside the Federal legal system.

Virginia State Courts

"There is a general district court in each city and county in Virginia. The general district court handles traffic violations, hears minor criminal cases known as misdemeanors, and conducts preliminary hearings for more serious criminal cases called felonies.


General district courts have exclusive authority to hear civil cases with claims of $4,500 or less and share authority with the circuit courts to hear cases with claims between $4,500 and $15,000. Examples of civil cases are landlord and tenant disputes, contract disputes and personal injury actions."

"The circuit court is the trial court of general jurisdiction in Virginia; this means that the court has authority to try a full range of cases both civil and criminal. Civil cases involve disputes essentially private in nature between two or more parties; criminal cases are controversies between the State and persons accused of a crime. Only in a circuit court is a jury provided for the trial of these disputes and controversies."
A diagram of the Virginia State Court structure is accessible here.

Federal Courts

"The United States district courts are the trial courts of the federal court system. Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the district courts have jurisdiction to hear nearly all categories of federal cases, including both civil and criminal matters. Every day hundreds of people across the nation are selected for jury duty and help decide some of these cases.

There are 94 federal judicial districts, including at least one district in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Three territories of the United States -- the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands -- have district courts that hear federal cases, including bankruptcy cases."

A diagram of the structure is available here.

So in Alexandria, Virginia you will find

STATE

The Alexandria General District Court at 520 King Street
The Alexandria Circuit Court at 520 King Street
(The Court of Appeals and the Virginia Supreme Court are 100 miles away in Richmond)

FEDERAL

Virginia Eastern District Court at 401 Courthouse Square
Virginia Eastern Bankruptcy Court at 200 South Washington Street

The Alexandria Waterfront

The Old Town of Alexandria can often by overlooked by visitors to Washington DC. Don't. It's a lovely town - full of some great restaurants - with lots of history, and a welcoming atmosphere. I wish I were back there! (though I'm looking forward to meeting my new OU students later today). These videos (with no commentary) show the waterfront by the Torpedo Factory. If you are visiting the Capital area - don't miss a day and an evening in "Old Town". (Also make time to visit St Elmo's!)

St Elmo's

Long term readers of this blog will know of the long term affection I have for a very special coffee shop in the Del Ray area of Alexandria. It's just a few miles from Washington DC - and I've already made a couple of visits on this trip to the USA. It has a lovely atmosphere - and I really enjoy their coffee and food. The founder and owner, Nora Partlow, spoke to me last Friday



After our chat I did a bit of work on my research, whilst enjoying another coffee. It is a superb place to quietly work in pleasant surroundings. The website of St Elmo's can be accessed here. If you use Facebook you can sign up for updates on what is going on - and what new foods and coffees are available.

Half Way!

Christmas in Washington

I'm tempted to write about the excellent book "One Christmas in Washington" - a book which describes Churchill's visit to the US capital in 1941 for the "Arcadia" conference - to discuss with Franklin Roosevelt the strategy for the Allies. I really enjoyed reading it - and it describes key events in the development of the Anglo-American relationship.



But my intention was to write about THIS Christmas - and what's on in the Washington area.

The National Christmas tree - with nightly concerts
Kennedy Center - a host of special events - by the potomac (and Watergate Building)
Downtown market in Chinatown.

Mount Vernon - very festive at any time around Christmas, with a special "Mount Vernon by Candlelight" this weekend.

Alexandria - see here

More details about Washington events on the Washington Post website.

Favourite Places to eat

A few days ago I described Ben's Chili Bowl. Other places I like to eat in Washington include -

Tortilla Coast - a Tex-Mex restaurant and bar close to Capitol Hill. I had my first Margarita here.

Chevy's Fresh Mex - another Tex-Mex, this one is close to the Pentagon City metro (near Borders) 1201 S. Hayes Street. Great for celebrating finally submitting pieces of academic work!

Johnny Rocket's - either at Union Station or in Pentagon City.

Elsie's Magic Skillet Restaurant - 8166 Richmond Hwy, Alexandria, VA. Filling Southern food. (Love the breakfasts - but just can't get to like 'grits')

My favourite coffee bars are the Starbucks on Capitol Hill 237 Pennsylvania Ave SE (between S 2nd St & S Independence Ave) and the wonderful

St Elmo's Coffee Pub - the the Del Ray area of Alexandria. I'd take my laptop down there every day - if it wasn't 3,600 miles away!

Sample Ballots

So what does the ballot look like? Below are sample ballots from a number of places in the USA (I selected these because of my own connections)

Alexandria, VA: http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/elections/info/2008NovFullUnofficialSample(1).pdf

Fairfax County, VA ( VA 11 district): http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb/OS_Sample%20Ballot%20Style3.pdf

Northampton, MA: http://www.northamptonma.gov/cityclerk/uploads/listWidget/6771/Specimen%20Ballot-November%204,%202008.pdf

Rugby, ND: http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/xml/abtus/ourorg/aud/Elections/Archives/gen08/vpweb.pdf (pages 13-16)

Election Meeting - Comments by VA House of Delegates member, Brian Moran

At the election meeting at Cora Kelly Recreational Center, the audience heard remarks from Brian Moran - the brother of Congressman Jim Moran, and a member of Virginia's House of Delegates. More information on Brian Moran can be found at http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/b9d1ff441cd43fbc85256c23006d3f87/6be92fbb48bbe5db852570d2005e9e8c?OpenDocument

What the US Election is about

When I visited the morning market in Alexandria - I met a number of campaigners who were part of this last weekend's push to get out the vote. There were a number of stalls at different parts of the market. I asked two campaigners why they were out at an early hour on a - refreshingly cool - Saturday morning.

Democrats



Republicans

Early Voting

Many states now allow voters to "vote absentee in person", sometimes referred to as "early voting". In Virginia this is permitted if there is a valid reason why a person might not be able to turn up to vote on election day. More details of the Virginia rules can be found at http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Absentee_Voting/Index.html. Other states do not require a reason - and as in the United Kingdom - absentee voting is a right (In Britain this can only be achieved by voting by post or by voting by proxy).

This morning I went to the farmers market in the old town of Alexandria. I recorded this video at 8.30 am.

06.00 Mount Vernon Virginia

A friend drew my attention to the following quote which appeared in the current edition of the local library newsletter - "Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" ~ Henry Ward Beecher. As I was in the Borders store in Pentagon City yesterday afternoon I can confirm the truth of this. I bought a copy "Change We Can Believe In" - Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise. There were so many books about the election and the various candidates (I already have every book written by both Obama and McCain).

On my way back to the home of my friends - I stopped at the table set up by the Democrats at Huntington Metro. In fact there were tables set up at every Metro station I went to! This morning we are off to the Farmers' Market in Alexandria - and I'm told a heavy political presence is expected.

Yesterday I spent time ringing up undecided or infrequent voters - still a success rate (that is - actually talking to the person rather than their answering service) of one in six. When I did get through responses were very positive for Obama - I even signed up volunteers - which in years of 'telephone canvassing' in the UK has only happened once - it happened 3 times yesterday!

10.30pm EDT (Oct 30th) Northern Virginia

Another busy day. This time I was based in the Victory Virginia Offices - where I was telephoning voters to find out their voting intentions. I was struck at the low numbers of people I actually got to speak to. Only about 1 in 6 calls were answered - all the others were either wrong numbers (quite a low proportion compared to my experience in the UK) or voicemail/ansafone cut in. I guess Americans, due to the higher levels of sales calls,use this more as a filter. However this was about the same success rate as I noted in the 2004 election. On my way home I made a short video -