The VLW Blog

If you want a favorable review from a statewide bar group for an appointment to the State Corporation Commission, you’d better pull that résumé together and go to Gov. Tim Kaine’s Web site fast.

Kaine has asked candidates to fill out a judicial selection questionnaire and a statement of economic interest (both available on at www.governor.virginia.gov) and get them and the résumé and a writing sample to senior advisor Mark Rubin (mark.rubin@governor.virginia.gov) by May 31.

The Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Bar Association and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association want the same information the governor is requesting, minus the statement of economic interest and such personal information as date of birth and health history, by May 19. They would prefer to have the information e-mailed to, respectively, breeden@vsb.org, guytower@vba.org and jharris@vtla.com.

The more interesting question may be whether any of you are interested in the appointment. It’s only good until next February, when the General Assembly will have the final say on filling the position. Legislators couldn’t get it done this year, and at least one legislator, Del. Bill Janis, R-Henrico, chairman of a subcommittee on judicial systems, has said anyone accepting Kaine’s appointment should take the job with his eyes open to not lasting past February.

According to the Associated Press, the legislature will reconvene on June 23 to discuss a transportation funding package. As noted by the AP, partisan and regional disagreements are enormous impediments to a compromise.

As reported on SCOTUSblog: In a widely splintered decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for death-row executions to resume across the country, concluding that the most common method of lethal injection does not violate the Constitution.

The Washington Post notes that Governor Kaine acted quickly to reinstate the death penalty in Virginia.

Gov. Tim Kaine says he won’t appoint a new judge to the State Corporation Commission, leaving the choice to the 2008 General Assembly, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Judge Theodore V. Morrison is retiring at the end of this month, giving Kaine an opportunity to fill the seat, since the Assembly won’t convene until Jan. 9.

Speculation had been that the governor would name Sen. William Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, to the position. But Wampler’s hope of being the first non-lawyer to sit on the SCC will have to wait. Kaine said he did not want to aggravate legislators by naming a judge just days before the legislature met.

But if the divided Assembly can’t agree on anyone, he stands ready to make the appointment, he said.

Chesapeake Circuit Judge S. Bernard Goodwyn was picking up his 12-year-old daughter from dance class last week when Gov. Tim Kaine called his house. His wife quickly relayed a message, and the governor told Goodwyn that he was going to be appointed to the Supreme Court.

He is the first justice from Hampton Roads in 49 years. The Virginian-Pilot has the story of yesterday’s press conference and appointment.

Gov. Tim Kaine will appoint Chesapeake Circuit Judge S. Bernard Goodwyn to the Supreme Court of Virginia, according to the Associated Press.

The governor will hold a news conference this morning to introduce his choice.

Goodwyn, 46, will succeed Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy, who retired in August. Goodwyn will be the second African-American justice on the current court, joining Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr.

The controversy over Virginia’s new “civil remedial fees” for “abusive drivers” has generated a lot of ink in the last two months.

The Washington Post has made the brouhaha a little personal for the commonwealth’s lawmakers.

Quite a few public officials, from Gov. Tim Kaine to Speaker Bill Howell to other members of the General Assembly, have been given traffic tickets, mostly for speeding, over the past few years. Not indicated is whether they were rushing to Richmond to get the people’s business done or fleeing from the capital to get the hell out of Dodge.

Would these lawmakers qualify as “abusive drivers” and get nailed for the hefty fees?

Actually, probably not, since many of the offenses detailed in the Post piece fall just this side of reckless driving.

A Kaine spokesman, while denying the governor would be classified as an “abusive driver,” tries to take the Tim-as-everyman approach: “Like many Virginians, the Governor has been cited for speeding…”

“Like many Virginians”? The guy must have been talking about all the officials named in the Post article.

Just hours before Christopher S. Emmett was scheduled to die for beating a co-worker to death while stealing money for drugs, Gov. Tim Kaine granted him a reprieve, reports The Associated Press.

The governor said he wants to give the U.S. Supreme Court until Oct. 17 to consider granting Emmett’s appeal.

Emmett is claiming his defense attorney was incompetent, arguing that the lawyer ignored evidence of an abusive childhood that could have helped at sentencing.

The Supreme Court of Virginia in 2004 agreed with Emmett’s current defense team that his trial lawyer was inadequate, but the justices cited a defferent reason; the court said he had failed to object to a faulty sentencing form given to the jury. But that didn’t matter, the high court concluded. The error wouldn’t have stopped the jury from giving Emmett the death penalty, the court said, affirming the conviction.

Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Emmett’s request for a stay of execution, although four justices said they would have granted the reprieve. The U.S. high court now will have an opportunity to determine if it wants to take Emmett’s case.

Gov. Tim Kaine and Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced yesterday that they have agreed to have an outside law firm advise the special review panel studying the Virginia Tech shootings.

Spokesmen for the two officials said that the AG’s office has been advising the panel, but it also has been providing counsel to Virginia Tech and the state police. Since the review panel is independent, it made sense for the group to have outside counsel, they said.

Two partners from the DC office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP – Richard Brusca and Amy Sabrin — will be the lead partners for the project, which Skadden, Arps will handle work on a pro bono basis, according to The Associated Press.

The House of Delegates yesterday killed amendments from Gov. Tim Kaine that would have increased the pay of court-appointed lawyers in juvenile court.

Kaine had sought to shoehorn the increase through changes to House Bill 2361, which will permit a judge to waive the fee limits for court-appointed counsel in certain cases. While killing that group of amendments by a 91-6 vote, the House left intact the broader portions of the bill. For the record, all of Kaine’s changes passed the Senate unanimously.

Both Houses approved Kaine’s amendment to the bill that requires court officials to track the number of court appointments, including offenses charged, and the number of fee cap waivers, including dollars paid. The court must report those statistics quarterly to the governor and to the legislature.