Judges; election in Supreme Court of Virginia, circuit court, district court, etc. (HJ246)
Introduced By
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✗ |
Passed Committee |
✓ |
Passed House |
☐ |
Passed Senate |
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. Read the Bill »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
History
Date | Action |
---|---|
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01/24/2012 | Motion to suspend the rules withdrawn |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 |
Video
This bill was discussed on the floor of the General Assembly. Below is all of the video that we have of that discussion, 1 clip in all, totaling 35 seconds.
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.