Former attorney general Ken Cuccinelli nominated for Virginia Supreme Court
Last edited Wed Mar 9, 2016, 01:28 PM - Edit history (3)
Source: Virginian-Pilot
By Patrick Wilson and Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
10 hrs ago
RICHMOND
The state Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted Tuesday to nominate former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to the Supreme Court of Virginia, a decision that surprised many in the Capitol.
Liberal and Democratic groups immediately attacked Cuccinelli over his conservative record as a state senator and attorney general and began a lobbying effort with the Twitter hashtag #KeepKenOut. But Republicans said he was well-qualified and his election to the Supreme Court could end an impasse thats gone on since August.
To be elected, he will need to be interviewed by the House of Delegates Courts of Justice Committee, and questions about his record likely will come up.
The move follows months of drama between Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republicans who control the legislature over a vacancy created last year when Justice LeRoy Millette Jr. retired.
Read more: http://pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/former-attorney-general-ken-cuccinelli-nominated-for-virginia-supreme-court/article_c18698f6-406a-5a4c-989c-9dc7fe7ff05a.html
Hat tip, WTOP: Senate panel backs Cuccinelli for Virginia Supreme Court
I sent the OP at 6:30 a.m. Now that I'm at work, here are a few more links.
Posted: Tuesday, March 8, 2016 8:30 pm
By JIM NOLAN AND GRAHAM MOOMAW Richmond Times-Dispatch
Republicans on the Senate Courts of Justice Committee on Tuesday used their majority to nominate former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to succeed Justice Jane Marum Roush on the Virginia Supreme Court.
The surprise move came after Senate Republicans failed to muster enough floor votes to elect Court of Appeals Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. to replace Roush, the interim appointee of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat.
They then swiftly regrouped and certified Cuccinelli, the conservative lightning rod who nearly beat McAuliffe in the 2013 race for governor.
I have been approached to consider an appointment to the Virginia Supreme Court, Cuccinelli said in a statement Tuesday evening. 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.
....
jnolan@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6061
Twitter: @RTDNolan
gmoomaw@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6839
Twitter: @gmoomaw
By Laura Vozzella March 8 at 7:02 PM
@LVozzella
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 governors race and deal a particularly bitter blow to Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
While the governor and the Republican-controlled legislature have been deadlocked for months over how to fill a vacancy on the states highest court, the nomination of Cuccinelli appeared to have enough support from GOP lawmakers to break the impasse.
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.
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.
Ford_Prefect
(7,868 posts)He certainly lacks the balanced judgement needed to perform the duties required of a justice. The electorate got rid of him for cause and so it should stay. I am very surprised that there has been no investigation into his tenure at AG.
Sophiegirl
(2,338 posts)I am absolutely sickened by this. Just downright disgusted. He is an evil little man.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)gay-hating, women-oppressing zealot nominated for supreme court? The loss of Scalia must have snapped a few characters around Richmond.
Grins
(7,189 posts)How is Virginia any different than any other state with Republican majorities?
Michigan? North Carolina? Kansas? Louisiana? Okla-effing-homa?
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)that other GOP controlled states are badly administrated too.
Chasstev365
(5,191 posts)Vinca
(50,236 posts)It's bad enough he's appeared on television lately as a political commentator.
AllyCat
(16,135 posts)Glimmer of Hope
(5,823 posts)JudyM
(29,185 posts)Is there a "horrified" emoji?
kwassa
(23,340 posts)He would make Scalia look liberal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Cuccinelli
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,283 posts)WRIC Newsroom
Published: March 9, 2016, 10:45 am
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) Protesters have gathered at the Capitol today to urge the Virginia General Assembly to reject Ken Cuccinellis nomination to a 12-year term on the Virginia Supreme Court.
....
The Virginia Senate is expected to vote on the Supreme Court justice nominee today.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,283 posts)Suppose he's elected. An associate justice makes $189,000 per year: Virginia state government salary
If he retires after his 12-year term, it doesn't stop there. He gets a pension too. In his case, it's the JRS Hybrid Retirement Plan: Judicial Retirement System
So gays can now file jointly, but they'll be paying for Cuccinelli for a looooooooong time.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,283 posts)Posted: Wednesday, March 9, 2016 12:00 pm
From staff reports
With protesters chanting outside the Virginia state Capitol this morning, Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam urged defeat of the surprise nomination of Republican Ken Cuccinelli, a former attorney general, as a justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
This is an embarrassment and affront to the people of Virginia and to the judicial process. Ken Cuccinelli has spent his career as an activist trying to outlaw abortion and birth control, denying science and climate change, and aggressively denigrating and denying our LGBT community of basic rights, said Northam, a Democrat who is his party's presumptive nominee for governor next year. ... I am disappointed that the Senate Courts of Justice Committee would make this nomination and, as President of the Senate, I am hopeful that the Senate will reject this nomination.
Republicans on the Senate Courts of Justice Committee pushed through the unexpected nomination of Cuccinelli Tuesday after the GOP-led nomination of Court of Appeals Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. to the high court failed in a Senate floor vote.
....
As of 10 a.m., opponents of Cuccinelli had driven 7,776 emails and 495 calls to state Senate offices and #KeepKenOut was trending on Twitter across the commonwealth, said Anna Scholl, executive director of Progress Virginia. .... Scholl said organizations working to oppose Cuccinelli's nomination include Progress Virginia, New Virginia Majority, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, Equality Virginia Advocates, Virginia AFL-CIO, SEIU Virginia 512, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Virginia Sierra Club, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the Virginia Center for Public Safety, and NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,283 posts)By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot
804-697-1564
patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
1 hr ago
RICHMOND
Former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has withdrawn from consideration for the state Supreme Court, said Republican Sen. Ryan McDougle of Hanover County.
The House of Delegates and state Senate are expected to elect Court of Appeals Judge Stephen McCullough on Thursday to fill a vacancy, he said.
"He will be the next Supreme Court justice," McDougle said.
By Laura Vozzella and Fenit Nirappil March 9 at 3:30 PM
@LVozzella
@FenitN
RICHMOND The Virginia Senate on Wednesday dropped a plan to put Ken Cuccinelli II on the state Supreme Court after the former Republican attorney general turned down the job offer.
The Senate advanced the name of yet another candidate after Cuccinelli told Republicans that he was not interested in the position, which would have prevented him from running for governor in 2017 and forced him to quit his current campaigning for GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz.
Posted: Wednesday, March 9, 2016 3:30 pm
From staff reports
Republicans in the Senate and House of Delegates are poised to elect Court of Appeals Judge Stephen R. McCullough of Spotsylvania County to the Supreme Court of Virginia, after former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli took himself out of the running.
....
Cuccinelli strongly backed the nomination of McCullough, who served as senior appellate counsel under Cuccinelli in the Attorney General's Office before he was elected to the Court of Appeals.
....
The General Assembly elected McCullough to the Court of Appeals in 2011. His term expires in 2019.
....
McCullough received a B.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1994 and his law degree from the University of Richmond in 1997.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Ken would have done a lot more damage on the VA Supreme Court. He never will be elected governor.