Supreme Court of Virginia

Supreme Court of Virginia
Court Information
Justices: 7
Founded: 1776
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Salary
Associates: $243,842
Judicial Selection
Method: Direct legislative appointment
Term: 12 years
Active justices
Teresa M. Chafin, S. Bernard Goodwyn, D. Arthur Kelsey, Thomas P. Mann, Stephen R. McCullough, Cleo Powell, Wesley G. Russell Jr.

Founded in 1776, the Virginia Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has seven judgeships. The current chief of the court is Bernard Goodwyn. In 2018, the court decided 1,697 cases.

As of August 2022, one judge on the court was appointed by a Democratic governor and six were appointed by the General Assembly. Bernard Goodwyn was appointed to a pro tempore term by Tim Kaine before the legislature confirmed him to a full term.

The court is located in Richmond, Virginia directly across the street from the Virginia Capitol building.

In Virginia, state supreme court justices are selected through direct legislative appointment. Justices are appointed directly by the state legislature. There are two states that use this selection method. To read more about the legislative appointment of judges, click here.

Jurisdiction

The supreme court holds both original and appellate jurisdiction. The court's primary function is to review lower court decisions, and state law does not allow appeals to the court "as a matter of right" except where the State Corporation Commission, the disbarment of an attorney, or a review of the death penalty is involved.

Original jurisdiction is limited to matters filed by the Virginia Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission on the topics of judicial censure, retirement, and the removal of judges, and to cases of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition (writ), and "writs of actual innocence pursuant to Virginia's Code § 19.2-327.2."

The following text from Article VI, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution covers the organization and jurisdiction of the court:

“	Judicial Power; Jurisdiction The judicial power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a Supreme Court and in such other courts of original or appellate jurisdiction subordinate to the Supreme Court as the General Assembly may from time to time establish. Trial courts of general jurisdiction, appellate courts, and such other courts as shall be so designated by the General Assembly shall be known as courts of record. The Supreme Court shall, by virtue of this Constitution, have original jurisdiction in cases of habeas corpus, mandamus, and prohibition; to consider claims of actual innocence presented by convicted felons in such cases and in such manner as may be provided by the General Assembly; in matters of judicial censure, retirement, and removal under Section 10 of this article, and to answer questions of state law certified by a court of the United States or the highest appellate court of any other state. All other jurisdiction of the Supreme Court shall be appellate. Subject to such reasonable rules as may be prescribed as to the course of appeals and other procedural matters, the Supreme Court shall, by virtue of this Constitution, have appellate jurisdiction in cases involving the constitutionality of a law under this Constitution or the Constitution of the United States and in cases involving the life or liberty of any person. The General Assembly may allow the Commonwealth the right to appeal in all cases, including those involving the life or liberty of a person, provided such appeal would not otherwise violate this Constitution or the Constitution of the United States. Subject to the foregoing limitations, the General Assembly shall have the power to determine the original and appellate jurisdiction of the courts of the Commonwealth.	”
—Virginia Constitution, Article VI, Section 1

Justices

The table below lists the current justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia, their political party, and when they assumed office.

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Office	Name	Party	Date assumed office
Supreme Court of Virginia	Teresa M. Chafin	Nonpartisan	September 1, 2019
Supreme Court of Virginia	S. Bernard Goodwyn	Nonpartisan	October 10, 2007
Supreme Court of Virginia	D. Arthur Kelsey	Nonpartisan	March 6, 2015
Supreme Court of Virginia	Thomas P. Mann	Nonpartisan	August 1, 2022
Supreme Court of Virginia	Stephen R. McCullough	Nonpartisan	March 3, 2016
Supreme Court of Virginia	Cleo Powell	Nonpartisan	August 1, 2011
Supreme Court of Virginia	Wesley G. Russell Jr.	Nonpartisan	July 1, 2022

Chief justice

Bernard Goodwyn is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. He was preceded by Donald Lemons.

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Virginia

The seven justices of the supreme court are elected by a majority vote of both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly. Supreme court justices serve 12-year terms. At the end of their terms, judges must be re-selected by the legislature just as they initially were.</ref>

Qualifications

To serve on the supreme court, a judge must be:

• a state resident; and
• a state bar member for at least five years.

Chief justice

The chief justice of the court is selected by peer vote. The supreme court chief justice serves in that capacity for four years.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

When the General Assembly is in session, midterm vacancies are filled by the same legislative selection process normally used to select judges. When the assembly is not in session, the governor appoints a replacement to serve until 30 days after the start of the next session, by which point a judge must be elected to the seat.

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.

Caseloads

The table below details the number of cases filed with the court and the number of dispositions (decisions) the court reached in each year.

Virginia Supreme Court caseload data
Year	Filings	Dispositions
2022	956	836
2022	846	967
2021	---	---
2020	---	---
2019	1,760	1,675
2018	1,704	1,830
2017	1,782	1,697
2016	1,852	1,696
2015	1,996	1,588
2014	1,918	1,673
2013	2,050	1,998
2012	2,216	2,113
2011	2,333	2,485
2010	2,485	2,577
2009	2,639	2,538
2008	2,615	2,452
2007	2,634	2,817

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters (2021)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters, a study on how state supreme court justices decided the cases that came before them. Our goal was to determine which justices ruled together most often, which frequently dissented, and which courts featured the most unanimous or contentious decisions.

The study tracked the position taken by each state supreme court justice in every case they decided in 2020, then tallied the number of times the justices on the court ruled together. We identified the following types of justices:

• We considered two justices opinion partners if they frequently concurred or dissented together throughout the year.
• We considered justices a dissenting minority if they frequently opposed decisions together as a -1 minority.
• We considered a group of justices a determining majority if they frequently determined cases by a +1 majority throughout the year.
• We considered a justice a lone dissenter if he or she frequently dissented alone in cases throughout the year.

Summary of cases decided in 2020

• Number of justices: 7
• Number of cases: 55
• Percentage of cases with a unanimous ruling: 96.4%% (53)
• Justice most often writing the majority opinion: Justice McCullough (10)
• Per curiam decisions: 7
• Concurring opinions: 0
• Justice with most concurring opinions: N/A (0)
• Dissenting opinions: 2
• Justice with most dissenting opinions: Justice Kelsey (2)

For the study's full set of findings in Virginia, click here.

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation, based on a variety of factors. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on the political or ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. To arrive at confidence scores we analyzed each justice's past partisan activity by collecting data on campaign finance, past political positions, party registration history, as well as other factors. The five categories of Confidence Scores were:

• Strong Democrat
• Mild Democrat
• Indeterminate
• Mild Republican
• Strong Republican

We used the Confidence Scores of each justice to develop a Court Balance Score, which attempted to show the balance among justices with Democratic, Republican, and Indeterminate Confidence Scores on a court. Courts with higher positive Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Republican Confidence Scores, while courts with lower negative Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Democratic Confidence Scores. Courts closest to zero either had justices with conflicting partisanship or justices with Indeterminate Confidence Scores.

Virginia had a Court Balance Score of 3.29, indicating Republican control of the court. In total, the study found that there were 15 states with Democrat-controlled courts, 27 states with Republican-controlled courts, and eight states with Split courts. The map below shows the court balance score of each state.

Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)

See also: Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores of state supreme court justices, 2012

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan outlook of state supreme court justices in their paper, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns." A score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology while scores below 0 were more liberal. The state Supreme Court of Virginia was given a campaign finance score (CFscore), which was calculated for judges in October 2012. At that time, Virginia received a score of 0.11. Based on the justices selected, Virginia was the 18th most conservative court. The study was based on data from campaign contributions by judges themselves, the partisan leaning of contributors to the judges, or—in the absence of elections—the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice but rather an academic gauge of various factors.

Ethics

The Virginia Canons of Judicial Conduct set forth ethical guidelines and principles for the conduct of judges and judicial candidates in Virginia. There are six canons, excluding the one marking the date the canons went into effect:

• Canon 1: A judge must be impartial
• Canon 2: A judge must uphold the public trust
• Canon 3: A judge must promote efficient and effective delivery of justice

The full text of the Virginia Canons of Judicial Conduct can be found here.

Removal of judges

Judges in Virginia may be removed in one of two ways:

• By the supreme court after an investigation by the judicial inquiry and review commission; an investigation may be sparked by a complaint or judicial disability. The commission holds a hearing and evaluates a case, after which it may choose to file a formal complaint with the supreme court.
• By the legislature; the house of delegates may vote to impeach a them, after which a two-thirds vote of the senate may remove them.

History of the court

The Supreme Court of Virginia Building in Richmond

The general court of Virginia was the colony's highest appellate court during the colonial period, though appeals could be made to the privy council in England up to 1776. The court could also hear civil cases worth more than 2,000 pounds and held jurisdiction for criminal cases involving the loss of life or limb as punishment. The judges of the general court were members of the governor's council with the governor as the presiding judge, all were appointed to their roles by the king. When Virginia achieved independence in 1776, appeals from the general court were transferred from the privy council to a newly created court of appeals in Virginia.

With independence in 1776, the constitution provided for three separate branches of government and made the supreme court of appeals the court of final jurisdiction. Until 1788 the supreme court of appeals consisted of the judges of the general court, the chancery court, and the court of admiralty. Judges of those three courts were elected by the general assembly and commissioned by the governor.

With statehood in 1788, a legislative act abolished the court of admiralty and established the supreme court of appeals as a separate court, with five judges, elected by a joint vote of the state legislature. Positions were appointed by the governor for lifetime terms with good behavior.

The Reform Convention of 1850-51 limited the terms of supreme court of appeals judges to twelve years and provided for popular elections. The state was divided into five judicial districts, with one judge elected from each district. The post-civil war 1870 constitution modified judicial elections once again by requiring a majority vote in both houses of the state legislature, where it remains today. It also required court sessions to be held in Wytheville, Staunton, and Winchester.

In 1928 a constitutional amendment increased the number of judges to seven, where it remains today, and began referring to supreme court of appeals members as justices. The amendment also increased the jurisdiction of the court by authorizing the court to prescribe forms and to regulate the practice of the courts throughout the state.

The Virginia Constitution of 1971, the state's current constitution, changed the name of the court to the supreme court of Virginia. It also ended the requirement that court sessions be held in other parts of the state.

Notable firsts

• Cynthia Kinser was the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Courts in Virginia

See also: Courts in Virginia

In Virginia, there are two federal district courts, a state supreme court, a state court of appeals, and trial courts of general and limited jurisdiction. These courts serve different purposes, which are outlined in the sections below.

Click a link for information about that court type.

• Federal courts
• State supreme court
• State court of appeals
• Trial courts

The image below depicts the flow of cases through Virginia's state court system. Cases typically originate in the trial courts and can be appealed to courts higher up in the system.

The structure of Virginia's state court system.

Partisan control of Virginia state government

A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government. A state supreme court plays a role in the checks and balances system of a state government.

Virginia has a divided government where neither party holds a trifecta. The Republican Party controls the office of governor, while the Democratic Party controls both chambers of the state legislature.

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See also

Virginia	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in Virginia Virginia Court of Appeals Virginia Supreme Court	Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Virginia	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

• Supreme Court of Virginia Official Site

Footnotes

Virginia courts

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Federal courts:

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Virginia • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Virginia

State courts:

Virginia Supreme Court • Virginia Court of Appeals • Virginia Circuit Courts • Virginia District Courts • Virginia Magistrates

State resources:

Courts in Virginia • Virginia judicial elections • Judicial selection in Virginia