State Judges

Virginia Legislature Kicking Woman Off State Supreme Court

A political hissy fit in Virginia is costing a good judge her job.

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Three women serve on the seven member Virginia Supreme Court. Not for long though as the most recent woman to join the court, Justice Jane Marum Roush, is getting kicked to the curb by the Virginia legislature in a special session this month:

Virginia Republicans say they will reject Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s pick for the state’s newest Supreme Court justice and install their own choice — an unprecedented move in modern Virginia history.

Modern being the operative word. The article cites House Clerk G. Paul Nardo explaining this has all happened before… in 1900. Technically 1901, when Justice Archer Allen Phlegar lost his appointed post to Justice Stafford Gorman Whittle, as I’m sure you remember. The point is, the Virginia legislature — Republican dominated — has dug into a bag of tricks unused for at least 114 years to carry out a proxy war against Virginia Governor — and Democrat — Terry McAuliffe.

In Virginia, the legislative branch elects justices to the Supreme Court unless the vacancy opens up while out of session, at which point the governor appoints a new justice and the legislature — for the last 114 years — proceeds to elect that justice to a full term.

Bizarrely, this is not a case of a highly politicized appointment getting shoved through via recess appointment. In fact, Justice Roush earned her appointment to the state’s High Court after the Republican chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee wrote a letter to Governor McAuliffe recommending Roush. I guess Chairman Albo achieved RINO status and didn’t know it, because his thoughts mean exactly dick to the GOP leadership.

Roush will be replaced by Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., by all accounts a fine judge in his own right, but a replacement that makes you wonder if the Virginia GOP has even the remotest sense of optics. Are you telling me there isn’t a single female Republican jurist in Virginia? There are three women serving on the very same court as Judge Alston and one was elected recently by this legislature while another was part of Governor Bob “Transvaginal Ultrasound” McDonnell’s cabinet.

I get it, Republicans don’t like quotas. Fair enough. But this isn’t like nominating another woman to fill some naturally occurring vacancy. The legislature is affirmatively firing a woman to replace her with a guy. Do they not see how that’s going to play? At least it’s a black guy is probably their thinking because all women and minorities are the same, right? Sigh.

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Casey R. Stevens, a defense lawyer in Prince William County, described both judges as “brilliant” and noted that the political fight could leave Roush — who resigned her Circuit Court judgeship in order to take the Supreme Court appointment — “sitting out in the wind.”

“I’ve had experience with both of them. They’re both brilliant; they’re both very, very bright. What I think is happening right now is a bunch of politics,” Stevens said, adding, “Do they just not put this brilliant woman on the bench, or do you go back to private practice, or what do you do?”

Well, yeah. Kind of a bum deal to give up your job and then have your new gig ripped out from under you. Why would anyone ever accept a gubernatorial appointment again knowing that it’s so easily snatched away? Did anyone take a second to think of the long-term damage of this move? Of course not, because hissy fits and strategic thinking don’t really jive.

Good luck to soon-to-be-former Justice Roush. At least you can honestly say you never got a case wrong in your tenure.

Va. Republicans to oust McAuliffe’s Supreme Court pick, install their own [Washington Post]

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