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Huge Northern Virginia Data Center
Suffers Setback in Lawsuit Ruling
Plans to build the kind of data center that powers artificial intelligence suffered a setback last week in Northern Virginia when a judge ruled in favor of homeowners who opposed it.
Judge Kimberly Irving ruled the county violated state codes and county ordinances by failing to give residents proper notice of the project.
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors approved zoning that would allow the project to be built in December 2023.
The Board Supervisors and data center company QTS have only days left to appeal.
The project is consistent with a business development policy of Virginia’s governor.
Virginia already leads the nation in the number of data centers. Most are in Loudoun, Prince William, and Fairfax counties, where there are more than 300 of them.
The Prince William County Digital Gateway project would be one of the world’s largest data centers if it is built.
The additional QTS center was planned for a rural area of Prince William County where residents were concerned about traffic, noise and potential disruption of their lifestyles.
They argued in their lawsuit that the Board of Supervisors rushed their approval of the project by failing to follow legally-required procedures of advertising public hearings and sharing relevant information about the data center with the community.
The judge’s written ruling largely agreed. It said the "advertised notice provided by the county did not comply with [state law] ... and the plans, ordinances, or amendments ... were not properly made available to the public."
QTS responded with a statement saying, “We remain committed to the project and being a responsible, trusted partner to the Prince William County community."
It added, “This decision is delaying critical infrastructure required for American AI as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in local annual tax revenue."
Trump Faces Appeals Court Challenge
Over Tariffs Taking Effect This Month
President Donald Trump’s worldwide tariffs are being implemented this week but they still face a possibility that a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., will try to override his authority.
At a recent hearing, the three-judge panel indicated they believe the president is overstepping his authority.
The tariffs are a cornerstone of Trump’s economic agenda. They would set a base tariff of 10 percent for countries that have no trade imbalance with the United States.
Other countries would need to pay tariffs of at least 15 percent, but with variations that can go higher depending on the degree of trade imbalance.
Several states and trade groups are suing to stop the tariffs. They say their economies and businesses are suffering losses as a result.
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Latest News
Former Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro
Sets Agenda as U.S. Attorney for D.C.
Former Fox News host and New York judge Jeanine Pirro is wasting no time setting her own agenda after being confirmed as the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.
She said last week that she would place a higher priority on prosecuting violent juveniles.
“They need to have consequences,” she said.
She said in a post on X that she will put a priority on enforcing laws against illegal immigration and firearms.
"We will seek pretrial detention in all cases, irrespective of excuse, because of the danger that those guns pose to our community," she said.
Power the Civil Rights Work of Our Time
Each day members of our community are experiencing wage theft, the effects of gentrification, discriminatory policing, collateral consequences, marginalization in schools, and barriers to public accommodations.
We fight alongside people facing the effects of gentrification like Amira Moore. Our work empowers the people and communities who need it most, “We can do more than we think. There’s a path to equity, we just have to step to it.” –Ms. Moore
For more than 50 years, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee has been on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights in our community. We deploy the best legal talent, we tackle the tough cases, we fight, and we win.
Our work is as important today as it has ever been. Through your support, you can play a role in creating justice for thousands of marginalized members of our community. Together, we will dismantle injustice and pursue lasting change.
Join us! Donate & subscribe: https://www.washlaw.org/support-us
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Letters to the Editor
D.C. in Brief
National Park Service Plans to Reinstall
Confederate Statue that Protesters Tore Down
The National Park Service plans to restore the statue of a Confederate brigadier general a mile from the White House that was torn down by protesters after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Reinstallation of the statue is part of a larger dispute created by President Donald Trump’s campaign to get rid of “corrosive ideology” that draws attention to America’s historical struggles over racism and sexism.
Restoration of the statue of Albert Pike also is supposed to advance a Trump administration goal to "beautify" Washington, D.C.
The president’s claims of authority over the capital city has sometimes differed from opinions of local officials.
For the statue of Pike, protesters wrapped ropes and chains around it and pulled it down as police watched without intervening. They set it ablaze with lighter fluid.
Trump said in a social media post at the time that the protesters should have been arrested and that the police were not doing their jobs.
“A disgrace to our Country!” he posted on social media.
The National Park Service announced this month that it has nearly completed repairs to the Pike statue. It plans to put it back on its perch in October.
“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and re-instate pre-existing statues,” the National Park Service said in a statement.
Congress authorized the statue to be placed in Judiciary Square in 1901 to honor Pike’s leadership in the Freemasonry movement. He served for 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry.
Trump Declares Public Safety Emergency
To Halt Crime and Homelessness in D.C.
President Donald Trump declared a public safety emergency for Washington, D.C., Monday that included calling out the National Guard to fight crime.
He also kicked up a political storm from critics warning that stiffer law enforcement risks trampling the privacy and other constitutional rights of private citizens.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back," Trump said at a press conference Monday morning.
He cited examples of recent shootings and beatings, some of them of government employees, as examples of the crime that needs to be brought under control.
“This has become a situation of complete and total lawlessness,” Trump said.
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Legal Briefs
We Could Use Your Help
Thousands of DC residents need a lawyer, but can’t afford one. They could be illegally evicted from their homes, lose custody of their children, experience domestic violence, and more, all because they lack legal representation.
You could make a difference. By making a donation to the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, you will provide free, high-quality, zealous legal representation to low-income DC residents.
Your support could prevent homelessness, domestic violence, hunger, or family separation. In fact, if just 10 people who see this ad give $28 to Legal Aid, it will be enough to staff an experienced attorney at the courthouse for a day.
That way, DC residents like Keith King (pictured above) can get the legal representation they need to win their cases. As Mr. King put it, if it wasn’t for his Legal Aid lawyer, “I would have been homeless again.”
Here is the link to the Legal Aid website for donations: https://www.legalaiddc.org/donate-to-legal-aid/
For more information, contact Rob Pergament at Legal Aid at rpergament@legalaiddc.org