Assembly finally set to decide judgeships

Editorial: A trap hidden in plain sight

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 23, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judge Rosemarie Annunziata, Judgeships, Supreme Court of Virginia

Unhappy with a January decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia, four leaders of the House Courts of Justice Committee have set a clever trap for any judge wanting to keep his or her seat. And they’ve hidden it in plain sight. In Hernandez v. Commonwealth, the high court said judges have the authority to [...]

Two are confirmed for seats on federal bench

By Alan Cooper
Published: May 16, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, Judgeships

The U.S. Senate last week confirmed the appointment of two U.S. district judges for Virginia, one each for the Eastern and Western Districts. On Wednesday, it approved Arenda L. Wright Allen, the head of the federal defender office in Norfolk, for a seat in the Eastern District on a 96-0 vote. The next day, the [...]

Chief Justice Kinser, politely, pushes back

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 11, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judgeships, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Supreme Court of Virginia News

ROANOKE—Virginia Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser has sounded a note of polite resistance to General Assembly efforts to expand the legislature’s control of the state’s courts. In her inaugural State of the Judiciary address at the Virginia Judicial Conference in Roanoke Tuesday, Kinser urged judges to “recommit to preserving the rightful esteem in which our [...]

Legislature could elect justices during congressional redistricting

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 9, 2011
Tags: Judgeships

The General Assembly left town last month without filling two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Virginia, and it is unclear just when Senate Democrats and House Republicans will try to resolve their differences on the seats. The legislature will have to return to take up congressional redistricting, but it is under no time pressure [...]

Judicial elections in Assembly go down to the wire

By Alan Cooper
Published: May 2, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Judgeships, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia Court of Appeals News

Members of the House and Senate were still negotiating at press time to settle on candidates to fill two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Virginia, with Court of Appeals Judges Elizabeth A. McClanahan and Cleo E. Powell apparently acceptable to the majority caucuses of each house. Senate Democrats had been distracted by redistricting, and [...]

No new justices, but 14 lower court judges

By Alan Cooper
Published: April 29, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judgeships

The General Assembly was too distracted by redistricting yesterday evening to negotiate seriously on filling two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Virginia, but legislators did manage to fill 14 lower court seats on which local delegations had agreed. Senate Democrats finally got around to a counter-offer to House Republicans on the Supreme Court vacancies, [...]

Supreme Court deal in the works

By Alan Cooper
Published: April 22, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judgeships, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia Court of Appeals News

A deal may be in the works to elevate two Virginia Court of Appeals judges to the Supreme Court of Virginia and replace them with Gov. Bob McDonnell’s former law partner and a Portsmouth circuit judge. Judges Elizabeth A. McClanahan and Cleo E. Powell would go to the Supreme Court and Glen A. Huff, a [...]

Assembly delays election of judges until late April

By Alan Cooper
Published: April 18, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Judgeships, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia Court of Appeals News

The state appears unlikely to get any new judges elected before April 25 at the earliest, although the General Assembly moved closer to filling two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Virginia. The Republican caucus in the House of Delegates has selected Virginia Court of Appeals Judges D. Arthur Kelsey and Elizabeth A. McClanahan as [...]

House Republicans want Kelsey, McClanahan

By Alan Cooper
Published: April 12, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judgeships

The Republican caucus in the House of Delegates has selected Virginia Court of Appeals Judges D. Arthur Kelsey and Elizabeth A. McClanahan as its candidates for two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Virginia. If those two are elected to the high court, the caucus wants to replace them on the Court of Appeals with [...]