A choose this month declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Virginia Tech girls’s soccer participant who says she was benched after she didn’t kneel in a pregame ceremony, constructing as much as a authorized battle that mixes sports activities, cultural politics, and the First Modification.
U.S. District Choose Thomas Cullen, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, rejected Virginia Tech’s bid to dismiss the case on Dec. 2, saying “real points of fabric truth” existed that have to be determined by a jury, in line with court docket information.
The lawsuit pits former participant Kiersten Hening in opposition to the group’s coach Charles Adair, alleging that he grew to become livid when she refused to kneel in help of social justice actions, primarily her objections to the Black Lives Matter group’s mission assertion.
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After an Atlantic Coast Convention unity assertion was recited over loudspeakers at Virginia Tech’s 2020 season opener, Hening remained standing whereas most of her teammates knelt on the sphere. Adair voiced his anger at her throughout halftime after which benched her till the tip of the match, in line with the lawsuit’s claims.
Following her removing from the beginning lineup and getting little enjoying time through the subsequent two video games, allegedly as a result of she exercised her First Modification rights from being compelled to kneel, Hening give up the group.
Adair claims in response to the lawsuit that he by no means noticed Hening when she refused to kneel and that his actions had been taken in response to her poor enjoying through the first half of the season-opening recreation with the College of Virginia.
“There isn’t any proof from anyone, apart from a principle,” Virginia Tech’s lawyer, Assistant Lawyer Basic Hudson McClanahan, argued throughout a listening to. “That’s what bought us right here immediately — a principle.”
However Cullen wrote in his choice {that a} “truthful assessment” of the information signifies there’s “greater than only a supposition. He added, “certainly, ample circumstantial proof undergirds her declare and offers rise to real points of fabric truth about Adair’s true motives and actions.”
Cullen additionally stated there was vital context surrounding what occurred to the buildup of the unity assertion and Hening’s choice to decide out of kneeling on the sphere.
“The Virginia Tech girls’s soccer group, like many organizations and teams, was divided over whether or not and the right way to publicly help varied social-justice points (together with BLM) within the aftermath of the homicide of George Floyd,” in line with Cullen’s 16-page opinion.
The choose added that Adair spoke of considerations about an “obvious rift” that fashioned within the group and made feedback on a number of events voicing help for the BLM motion.
“All of this implies that this obvious BLM- and social-justice divide was way more vital to Adair on the time than he would have the court docket imagine immediately,” Cullen stated, including it was “no secret” that Hening was an outspoken conservative and supporter of Trump on the time.
However Cullen added that “Adair additionally contends that Hening’s principle of causation is, at backside, primarily based on rank hypothesis and self-serving conclusions.”
Hening’s lawyer, Cameron Norris, stated Adair took 4 substantial actions in opposition to his consumer in retaliation for her refusal to kneel. Norris stated she was berated through the halftime of the UVA recreation, benched through the second half, was criticized later throughout a group assembly, and had enjoying time lower through the subsequent two video games.
Hening contends she helps social justice initiatives however doesn’t imagine within the BLM group’s mission assertion, which incorporates defunding police and criticizing the nuclear household framework, her lawsuit argues.
Cullen’s choice provides a small victory to Hening, who should finally show to a jury that her account of occasions is appropriate.
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“In the end, Adair could persuade a jury that this teaching choice was primarily based solely on Hening’s poor play through the UVA recreation, however the court docket, viewing the proof within the mild most favorable to Hening, can not attain that conclusion as a matter of regulation,” the district choose stated.
The Washington Examiner contacted Hening and her lawyer for a response.
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After months of speculation, tens of millions of campaign dollars spent, and 45 days of early voting, Virginia’s 2024 primary elections will take place on Tuesday.
All of Virginia’s contested House of Representatives seats—six Democratic and three Republican—and a Republican primary for the U.S. Senate—are up for election, but only a handful of primaries are competitive.
Early voting concluded on Saturday, and 110,044 Democratic voters and 72,857 Republican voters across the commonwealth cast their ballots ahead of June 18, according to Virginia Public Access Project data.
Five Republican candidates are on the June ballot, seeking their party’s nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine. The Republican primary race has seen approximately $5.7 million in spending, including funds from independent groups and withdrawn candidates. Despite the Democratic stronghold label from the Cook Political Report, Republican hopefuls continue to pursue Kaine’s seat.
The top three contenders are Hung Cao, a retired Navy captain who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 and launched a super PAC in 2023, Edward “Eddie” Garcia, a combat Army veteran, and Scott Parkinson, the Vice President for Government Affairs at the conservative non-profit, Club for Growth.
In the solidly Republican 5th Congressional District, Trump-endorsed state senator John McGuire has challenged incumbent and head of the Freedom Caucus Representative Bob Good. The race has been fiercely fought, with 14,125 Republican voters casting early ballots. An estimated $12 million has been spent, and the primary winner is expected to win the seat in November.
Following Representative Abigail Spanberger’s decision not to seek re-election to Congress in favor of running for Virginia governor in 2025, over a dozen candidates have entered the race for U.S. House District 7. Six Republicans and seven Democrats are on the ballot for the June election. Early voting saw 15,310 Democrats and 9,461 Republicans cast their ballots. The region leans Democrat, but Republicans are aiming to win the seat.
About $4.3 million has been spent on the Republican primary. The top contenders are Derrick Anderson, a former U.S. Army combat veteran, and Cameron Hamilton, a retired Navy SEAL pledging allegiance to the House Freedom Caucus if elected.
In the Democratic primary, approximately $6.5 million has been spent, and five out of seven candidates remain competitive. These candidates are Eugene Vindman, Briana Sewell, Elizabeth Guzman, Margaret Angela Franklin and Andrea Bailey.
In U.S. House District 10, more than a dozen candidates are running after Wexton chose not to seek re-election due to health reasons. Four Republicans and 12 Democrats will be on the June ballot. 18,453 Democratic voters and 8,455 Republican voters have cast their early votes in the northern Virginia district. District 10 is considered “solidly Democrat” by the Cook Political Report, but some Republicans are hoping to win the seat.
Approximately $746,200 has been spent on the Republican primary. The leading candidates are Mike Clancy, a senior executive and lawyer at a global tech company, and Aliscia Andrews, a Marine Corps veteran who previously won the Republican primary for the 10th Congressional District in 2020. Andrews currently serves as Virginia’s Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022.
Around $11.1 million has been spent on the competitive Democratic primary in Virginia, with five out of 12 candidates vying for the nomination. The contenders include Eileen Filler-Corn, Suhas Subramanyam, Dan Helmer, Krystle Veda Kaul, and Jennifer Boysko.
The 2024 Primary Election will be held on June 18. You can find results for the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Virginia here.
The five Republican candidates looking to unseat Incumbent Sen. Tim Kaine (D) include Hung Cao, Eddie Garcia Jr., Jonathan Emord, Chuck Smith Jr. and Scott Thomas Parkinson.
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It is a busy time for recruiting across college football. With no dead periods in the month of June, teams across the country are scheduling as many visits as possible. The Virginia Tech Hokies are busy, too. On Sunday, the Hokies landed a recruit — but not on the gridiron.
Mike Young and the men’s basketball program landed their first recruit for 2026 on Sunday when Sin’Cere Jones announced his commitment to Virginia Tech.
The 6-foot-7, 195-pound Jones plays at Churchland High School in Portsmouth and, per 247Sports, is the No. 13 overall player in Virginia for 2026. He held nine offers, some of which included Mississippi State, VCU, ODU and Radford.
Jones visited Blacksburg recently.
What are the Hokies getting in Jones? Right now, Jones looks like a traditional wing with his height and slender frame. Jones has a good outside shot. It’s tough to get a good read on his ability in the post because he’s much better than most of the players around him.
It is difficult to say how much we should expect to see Jones contribute as a freshman because, with the way the transfer portal works in college basketball, one year is a long time away. The Hokies do have multiple seniors on their roster this upcoming season.
Welcome home, Sin’Cere.
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