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Va. Senate panel proposes Cuccinelli for state Supreme Court Va. Senate panel proposes Cuccinelli for state Supreme Court
(about 3 hours later)
RICHMOND — A Virginia Senate panel on Tuesday nominated former attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II to the Virginia Supreme Court, a move aimed at handing Gov. Terry McAuliffe a particularly bitter loss in a long-running judicial battle. RICHMOND — A Senate panel on Tuesday nominated former attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II to the Virginia Supreme Court, a move that could both keep Cuccinelli out of the 2017 governor’s race and deal a particularly bitter blow to Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
McAuliffe (D) narrowly defeated Cuccinelli (R) in the 2013 governor’s race. While the governor and the Republican-controlled legislature have been deadlocked for months over how to fill a vacancy on the state’s highest court, the nomination of Cuccinelli appeared to have enough support from GOP lawmakers to break the impasse.
Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Stafford) proposed Cuccinelli after the Senate failed to muster the votes needed to elevate Appeals Court Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. to the state Supreme Court. The Senate Courts of Justice Committee promptly certified Cuccinelli for the slot on a party-line vote, a move that sends his name to the full Senate for consideration. Cuccinelli (R), who narrowly lost the 2013 gubernatorial contest to McAuliffe (D), seemed caught off guard. “I am humbled and honored to be considered for such a position, but it is not something that my wife and I have previously contemplated,” he said. “Together, we will prayerfully review this possibility.”
Among those who voted to advance Cuccinelli’s name was Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R-Richmond), the freshman senator who had, until now, refused to go along with his party’s plan to oust McAuliffe’s pick for the slot, former justice Jane Marum Roush. After the vote, Sturtevant said he planned to vote for Cuccinelli on the Senate floor — a move that would break a months-long impasse. A tea party hero for the brash battles he waged as attorney general against abortion, “Obamacare” and other perceived examples of “federal overreach,” Cuccinelli is reviled with equal fervor on the left. Establishment Republicans have not been fans, either, and have expressed concern as Cuccinelli has publicly mulled a second gubernatorial bid.
“He’s qualified and not a political pawn in this process,” Sturtevant said in a text message to The Washington Post. “Allows General Assembly to fulfill its constitutional duty to elect Supreme Court justices and avoids a further standoff causing a vacancy.” Republicans and Democrats alike speculated that the nomination was aimed at cutting short that possibilty — thereby avoiding a potentially divisive nomination battle with former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie and others who have already jumped in.
Republicans have pressed since January to put Alston in the slot, which McAuliffe had twice given on a temporary basis to Roush, a former Fairfax County Circuit Court judge. [Cuccinelli is thinking — at least a little — about running for governor in 2017]
The Republican-controlled legislature has refused to give Roush a full 12-year appointment. Her most recent appointment expired in February, leaving her unemployed and the court shorthanded. “I just think the chief motivation behind this is to get him out of the governor’s race,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax). “And they could [not] care less about what it does to the Supreme Court of Virginia.”
[Time runs out — again — for McAuliffe’s Supreme Court pick] Cuccinelli’s name surfaced just days ahead of the General Assembly’s scheduled Saturday adjournment, after which McAuliffe would be free to give a third recess appointment to former justice Jane Marum Roush if the slot remains unfilled.
Republicans have not questioned the qualifications of Roush, a highly regarded jurist who has presided over many high-profile cases, including the trial of D.C.-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo. A freshman Republican who had refused since January to go along with his party’s plan to replace Roush with Appeals Court Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. said he would support Cuccinelli.
But they have noted that judicial appointments are theirs to make and that they prefer Alston, who has served on the Court of Appeals since 2009. Republicans also have said that McAuliffe violated protocol by not consulting them on the choice. “He’s qualified and not a political pawn in this process,” Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R-Richmond) said in a text message to The Washington Post.
The lawmakers’ opposition to Roush only grew after she accepted a second recess appointment from McAuliffe, who whose authority to grant it was in question because the House had not gaveled out of a special session. In a statement, he said: “I hoped we would elect Justice Roush, and I could not vote for Judge Alston. However, now that Justice Roush and Judge Alston have failed to be elected by the General Assembly, I believe it is our responsibility to nominate and elect another candidate who is highly qualified and who can receive a majority of support in both houses.”
[GOP backs McAuliffe’s Supreme Court pick, but only for the moment][GOP backs McAuliffe’s Supreme Court pick, but only for the moment]
Republicans have a large majority in the House and could easily muster the votes in that chamber to install Alston. But they have been one vote short in the closely divided Senate, where Sturtevant had been refusing to cooperate with his party. Some legislators wondered if Cuccinelli’s nomination was merely ploy to prompt Democrats to get behind a more moderate, Republican-backed candidate instead of holding out for McAuliffe’s pick.
The full Senate appears likely to take up Cuccinelli’s nomination Wednesday.
Cuccinelli is one of Virginia’s most conservative politicians. Some Democrats wondered if the nomination was ploy, perhaps intended to convince Democrats to support Alston or yet another candidate, who might be more moderate than the former attorney general.
“I’m praying that it is a scare tactic,” said Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth).“I’m praying that it is a scare tactic,” said Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth).
But Stuart said he was putting forward “someone I believe to be eminently qualified for the position.” But Republicans brushed off the notion that the nomination was anything other than sincere. “Yes, it’s for real,” said Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham).
McAuliffe and Republicans have been at war over how to fill the opening since summer, when he first gave Roush the first of two temporary recess appointments.
The Republican-controlled legislature refused to give the former Fairfax County Circuit Court judge a full 12-year appointment. Her most recent appointment expired in February, leaving the court shorthanded.
Republicans have not questioned the qualifications of Roush, a highly regarded jurist who has presided over many high-profile cases. But they have noted that judicial appointments are theirs to make and said they preferred Alston, who has served on that court since 2009. Republicans also said McAuliffe violated protocol by not consulting them on the choice.
[Time runs out — again — for McAuliffe’s Supreme Court pick]
The lawmakers’ opposition to Roush only grew after she accepted a second recess appointment from McAuliffe, whose authority to grant it was in question because the House had not gaveled out of a special session.
McAuliffe’s spokesman Brian Coy said it would be “a disgrace” to replace Roush with “an 11th hour candidate whom voters have already rejected as hostile to their values on women’s rights, gay rights, education, health care, the environment, transportation and a range of other issues.”
Republicans have long had the votes in the GOP-dominated House to install Alston, but because Sturtevant was unwilling to go along they were one vote short in the closely divided Senate. Senate Republicans twice appeared close to convincing a Democrat from the black caucus to support Alston, who is African American. Both times, the effort fell short.
House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) issued a statement that expressed disappointment about the Senate’s failure to elect Alston. But it also signaled an intention to move ahead to elect someone.
“The Constitution of Virginia obligates the General Assembly to elect the Justices of the Supreme Court; failing to do so would be a dereliction of duty,” it said.