The VLW Blog

After passing the full Senate Feb. 6, legislation to adopt Rules of Evidence for Virginia today moved from a subcommittee to the full House Courts of Justice committee.
Some subcommittee members had doubts on Monday, and the subcommittee retooled the measure to firm up legislative control of the process for changing the rules over time [...]

[Read more →]

The House Courts of Justice committee on Friday voted 11-to-4 to report legislation designed to eliminate judges’ discretion to delay findings of guilt in many criminal cases.
House Bill 750, sponsored by Del. Ben Cline, R-Amherst, would bar deferred disposition in any case where the facts would justify a finding of guilt unless the prosecutor agrees.
Cline [...]

[Read more →]

The mandatory retirement age for Virginia judges would increase from 70 to 73 under a bill approved by the state Senate Monday.
The bill could face an uphill battle on the House side of the General Assembly, however. The civil subcommittee of the House Courts committee already has killed two proposals to increase the mandatory judicial [...]

[Read more →]

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli apparently hopes to reassure doubters that a state constitutional amendment to rein in eminent domain powers will not turn into a drain on local taxpayers.
A just released official opinion from the AG suggests localities will not have to compensate property owners who claim a nearby public facility is a nuisance [...]

[Read more →]

Some lawyer members of a House subcommittee studying proposed Rules of Evidence fear the proposed legislation would change the balance of power between the legislature and the Supreme Court.
What happens to the body of common law the Rules codify, and what is the process for changing the Rules, going forward, subcommittee members wanted to [...]

[Read more →]

There are a least five potential candidates for a pending seat on the Court of Appeals.
Appeals Court Judge James Haley will be retiring later this year, so the General Assembly will be choosing a successor this session.
Maybe. That’s if the House and Senate can get along and the evenly split Democrats and Republicans [...]

[Read more →]

The Virginia General Assembly reelected incumbent judges today, but did not elect two former legislators to the bench. Former Front Royal delegate Clay Athey, a Republican, was up for a seat on the 26th Judicial Circuit in Harrisonburg and former delegate Bud Phillips of Castlewood, a Democrat, was nominated for the 30th General District Court [...]

[Read more →]

A political clash in the state Senate Tuesday delayed otherwise routine Virginia judicial elections at least until Thursday.
Democrats and Republicans differed over whether to elect a slate of 49 judges that included two new faces – both former delegates. Democrats claimed they had an understanding that only incumbent judges would be up for re-election, but [...]

[Read more →]

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath Co., has introduced a bill to abolish the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Senate Bill 630 would simply do away with Virginia’s 28-year-old intermediate appellate court effective Oct. 1, restoring the Supreme Court’s authority to hear criminal, traffic, domestic and administrative appeals.
The judges of the Court of Appeals would remain in office through [...]

[Read more →]

On the heels of the Senate courts committee’s judicial interviews last Friday, both legislative courts committees have certified incumbent judges for possible re-election by the General Assembly this week.
Supreme Court Justice Donald W. Lemons has been certified for another 12-year term on the high court, and Fauquier prosecutor James P. Fisher has been approved for [...]

[Read more →]