The VLW Blog

Two days, two new federal judges in Virginia. The U.S. Senate followed up its confirmation of Arenda L. Wright Allen yesterday for a seat in the Eastern District by confirming Magistrate Judge Michael F. Urbanksi this afternoon for a position in the Western District. The votes for both candidates were unanimous. President Barack Obama followed [...]

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The U.S. Senate confirmed this afternoon the nomination of Arenda L. Wright Allen for a U.S. district judgeship in Norfolk. Allen has been an assistant federal defender in Norfolk since December 2005 and has headed the office for the past five years. Before joining the defender’s office, she worked for 14 years as an assistant [...]

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Few will be surprised, but it’s now official: former Gov. Tim Kaine is running for Jim Webb’s U.S. Senate seat. His announcement video is here. Kaine is expected to face Webb’s predecessor, George Allen, for the the Senate post. -Posted by Peter Vieth

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As new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was preparing to hear her first arguments, the Harris Poll conducted a survey aimed at determining how knowledgeable Americans are about the process of confirming a justice. Forty-two percent of 2,775 adults surveyed online between Aug. 9 and 16, say they are not knowledgeable about the process. [...]

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Virginia’s two Democratic U.S. senators invoked the name of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell today in urging their Senate colleagues to act on the nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Keenan for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner noted that Keenan has been a trailblazer for women lawyers [...]

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February 19 and 20 are going to be loooong days for judicial nominating committees. The committees of several bar groups plan to interview candidates those days for vacancies on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court in Richmond, and twenty-six people have asked to be considered for one seat or the [...]

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Former Sen. John Warner will be honored with a submarine named in his honor, reports the Navy Times.

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The Senate has confirmed Alexandria attorney Anthony Trenga’s nomination to a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Virginia, reports the Associated Press. Trenga was one of five lawyers Senators Jim Webb and John Warner recommended for the federal bench in a letter to President Bush  in June 2007. In a joint statement Friday, Warner [...]

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Highway 220, the road leading to and from The Homestead, was covered with campaign signs for Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore in preface to Saturday’s VBA debate. Advantage: Warner.   The more recent ex-gov clearly won the sign war up and down the highway. A couple of completely anecdotal observations: Warner was out earlier. There [...]

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Two ex-governors, Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore, met in the kickoff of the campaign for retiring U.S. Sen. John Warner’s seat July 19. The Virginia Bar Association held its traditional candidates’ debate at The Homestead. The debate was delayed 15 minutes apparently due to audio problems: the feed to Gilmore’s campaign room wasn’t working. But [...]

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