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12 backed for seat on high court

Twelve candidates to replace Justice G. Steven Agee on the Supreme Court of Virginia have won the support of one or more statewide bar groups, but none received the top ranking from all five organizations.

Two candidates, Fairfax Circuit Judge R. Terrence Ney and Roanoke Circuit Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, got the top endorsement of four of the groups.

The Virginia State Bar found 12 candidates – four judges from the Virginia Court of Appeals, seven circuit judges and Chief Deputy Attorney General William C. Mims – to be qualified for the position.

All the appeals court judges – Walter S. Felton Jr., Robert J. Humphreys, D. Arthur Kelsey and LeRoy F. Millette – were found to be highly qualified.

So were Mims and circuit judges Michael C. Allen of Chesterfield County, Joanne F. Alper of Arlington, Thomas D. Horne of Loudoun County, Weckstein and Ney. Two other circuit judges, Colin R. Gibb, who sits in Pulaski and Giles counties, and H. Thomas Padrick Jr. of Virginia Beach were rated qualified.

The Virginia Women Attorneys Association highly recommended Alper, Ney and Weckstein and recommended Allen, Felton and Horne. It found Gibb, Kelsey, Millette and Mims to be qualified.

The Old Dominion Bar Association found Gibb, Kelsey and Weckstein to be highly qualified and Millette and Padrick to be qualified.

Earlier, the Virginia Bar Association had recommended Alper, Felton, Horne, Kelsey, Millette, Mims, Ney and Weckstein, and the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys had endorsed Allen, Kelsey, Millette, Mims and Ney.

The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association also is expected to recommend candidates but had not done so by press time.

Nominating committees from the VSB, VWAA and ODBA interviewed candidates on June 27 in addition to reviewing written submissions and conducting background investigations.

The VBA, VADA and VTLA rely on written submissions and background checks and do not interview candidates.

Several of the candidates went through the screening process in August when the vacancy filled by Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn occurred. Candidates who went through that procedure were told that they need only express continued interest in a Supreme Court seat, and candidates who expressed interest for the first time received the same scrutiny give the earlier candidates.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had asked the statewide bar groups to submit recommendations to him by July 3 in case he has to fill the vacancy created by the appointment of Agee to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The General Assembly meets Tuesday and could appoint someone to a 12-year term then or at any time during the special session that has transportation as it primary goal. If the legislature adjourns without doing so, the task will fall to Kaine, but his appointment will be effective only until February, when the General Assembly would convene again.

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