Judges; election in Supreme Court of Virginia, circuit court, district court, etc. (HJ246)
Introduced By
Progress
√ |
Introduced |
X |
Passed Committee |
√ |
Passed House |
☐ |
Passed Senate |
☐ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Election of a Supreme Court of Virginia Justice, Circuit Court Judges, General District Court Judges, Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judges, a member of the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, and a member of the State Corporation Commission. View Full Text »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
History
- 01/24/2012 Presented 12104625D
- 01/24/2012 Taken up for immediate consideration
- 01/24/2012 Engrossed by House
- 01/24/2012 Agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
- 01/24/2012 VOTE: ADOPTION (98-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
- 01/24/2012 Received
- 01/24/2012 Reading waived
- 01/24/2012 Motion to suspend the Rules rejected (19-Y 21-N) (see vote tally)
- 01/24/2012 Reconsideration of rejected motion to suspend the rules agreed to (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
- 01/24/2012 Motion to suspend the rules withdrawn
- 01/24/2012 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
- 03/06/2012 Left in Courts of Justice
Comments
This bill is a good one and needs to be passed. Judges needs to be held
accountable for their decissions. People with money can almost buy their
way out of almost anything. Thank you Del.Cline for introducting this bill.
Ask yourself whether allowing those people to put that money directly in the hands of those judges, in the form of campaign contributions, would make that problem better or worse.
I watch judges in courts every single day. I've never seen anyone, in any court, buy their way out of anything. But choosing the judiciary through an expensive beauty contest would, certainly, be a way for people to buy their way into or out of something: "If you rule against me, forget your campaign contribution next time..."
Right. Not such a good idea. Impartiality cannot be bought, which is why Virginia is right, and has been right, not to choose judges by election. It's still a political process, but there are checks and balances--including the fact that judges are not allowed to participate in politics in Virginia.