Judges; election in Supreme Court of Virginia, circuit court, district court, etc. (HJ246)

Introduced By

Del. Ben Cline (R-Amherst)

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

DateAction
01/24/2012Presented 12104625D
01/24/2012Taken up for immediate consideration
01/24/2012Engrossed by House
01/24/2012Agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
01/24/2012VOTE: ADOPTION (98-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/24/2012Received
01/24/2012Reading waived
01/24/2012Motion to suspend the Rules rejected (19-Y 21-N) (see vote tally)
01/24/2012Reconsideration of rejected motion to suspend the rules agreed to (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/24/2012Motion to suspend the rules withdrawn
01/24/2012Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
03/06/2012Left 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.

Duplicate Bills

The following bills are identical to this one: HJ272.

Comments

Helen Gregory writes:

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.

Waldo Jaquith writes:

Judges needs to be held accountable for their decissions. People with money can almost buy their way out of almost anything.

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.

Valerie L'Herrou writes:

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.