WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says the likely ouster of a Fairfax County judge he appointed to the Supreme Court of Virginia was part of a Republican “political tantrum.”
Republican leaders in the General Assembly tried to replace Justice Jane Marum Roush during a special session of the legislature during the summer and have now declined to interview her for a full 12-year term ahead of the regular session that begins in January.
In Virginia, the legislature has the sole power to elect judges at all levels of the state court system, without input or nominations from the governor. The governor does have the power, as happened here, to make temporary recess appointments to the bench when the General Assembly is not in session.
“She is a great jurist. This was the Republicans having a political temper tantrum,” McAuliffe said Wednesday, during WTOP’s “Ask the Governor” segment.
But Republican leaders say McAuliffe appointed Roush without consulting them about whether they would elect her to the bench to replace Justice LeRoy Millette.
McAuliffe maintains that he took the recommendation from Republican Del. Dave Albo, who leads the House Courts of Justice Committee, as a sign Roush would have GOP support.
Republican leadership, instead, backed Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rossie Alston for the position this summer, until a procedural move to adjourn the State Senate blocked any action.
McAuliffe then reappointed Roush using another recess appointment, a move that House Speaker Bill Howell calls unconstitutional because the House of Delegates had remained in session.
Howell says she disqualified herself by accepting the second recess appointment. Republicans, who control both chambers of the General Assembly, have declined to invite Roush to be interviewed by committees ahead of the January session, which would be a required first step to her reappointment.
Roush has presided over several high-profile trials as a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge, including one of the D.C. sniper trials. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court, she had also been selected to preside over the trial of Charles Severance for a series of three high-profile murders in Alexandria. In order to become a Supreme Court justice, Roush gave up her seat on the bench in Fairfax County.
Alston is the former Chief Judge of the Prince William County Circuit Court and has also served as a Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge. The Virginia Court of Appeals, where he currently serves, is the state’s second-highest court.
“I’ve had two Republican senators outreach, talk to me [to] say they were absolutely outraged,” McAuliffe says of the refusal to interview Roush.
McAuliffe says one of those lawmakers is Sen. Bill Stanley, who McAuliffe says refused to interview other candidates for the job.
Republican Sen. John Watkins, who decided not to run for another term in November, said before casting the key vote in August that allowed Democrats to block Alston’s nomination that he hoped it would allow the process to start over from page one.
“There’s enough blame to go around on the executive branch side as well as the legislative branch side,” Watkins said moments before the vote.
During the debate during the summer, Democrats argued that any move to block Roush would block a qualified woman from taking the bench; Republicans argued that any vote against Alston would prevent a qualified African-American from joining the state’s highest court.
