4th Circuit Dismisses Free Exercise and Other Challenges To Offender Registry Law

In Doe v. Virginia Department of State Police, (4th Cir., April 12, 2013), the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed, largely on standing and ripeness grounds, a woman's challenge to changes in Virginia statutes that resulted in her being classified as a sexually violent offender and precluded her from entering the grounds of a school or daycare without first gaining permission from a Virginia court and the school board or the owner of the daycare. One of plaintiff's claims was that her free exercise rights were violated because all the churches of her faith in the area have Sunday Schools. Thus she is precluded from worshiping there without going through a procedure for permission that will disclose her status as a sexual offender to the school community and have dire social consequences for her children.