The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts,as well as the criminal law,family law and administrative law cases that are initially appealed to the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Established in 1779 as the Supreme Court of Appeals,the Supreme Court of Virginia is one of the oldest continuously active judicial bodies in the United States.
The Court of Appeals of Virginia,established January 1,1985,is an intermediate appellate court of 17 judges that hears appeals from decisions of Virginia's circuit courts and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. The Court sits in panels of at least three judges,and sometimes hears cases en banc. Appeals from the Court of Appeals go to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify,a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old,and have served at least 10 years,and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at least 80 years. As long as senior judges carry at least a 25 percent caseload or meet other criteria for activity,they remain entitled to maintain a staffed office and chambers,including a secretary and their normal complement of law clerks,and they continue to receive annual cost-of-living increases. The president may appoint new full-time judges to fill the vacancies in full-time judgeships caused by senior status.
In response to court action in a number of states,the United States federal government and a number of state legislatures passed or attempted to pass legislation either prohibiting or allowing same-sex marriage or other types of same-sex unions.
Benjamin Lee Cline is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 6th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party,he represented the 24th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2018.
Salvatore Robert Iaquinto is a Virginia Circuit Court Judge and former politician. From 2006–2013 he served in the Virginia House of Delegates,representing the 84th district in Virginia Beach. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Ellen Judith Huvelle is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She has overseen several significant cases. In a case decided in May 2001,Huvelle "upheld federal regulations that restrict the sale of consumers' names,Social Security numbers,dates of birth,addresses and phone numbers." Later that year,Huvelle heard requests by family members of Vince Foster seeking access to pictures of his body taken after his death. In November 2005,she accepted the guilty plea in the high-profile prosecution of lobbyist Michael Scanlon. Huvelle assumed senior status on June 3,2014.
Richard Boykin Kellam was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Virginia enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT people. LGBT rights in the state are a recent occurrence with most improvements in LGBT rights occurring in the 2000s and 2010s. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Virginia since October 6,2014,when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal in the case of Bostic v. Rainey. Effective July 1,2020,there is a state-wide law protecting LGBT persons from discrimination in employment,housing,public accommodations,and credit. The state's hate crime laws also now explicitly include both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Business Courts,sometimes referred to as Commercial Courts,are trial courts that primarily or exclusively adjudicate internal business disputes and/or commercial litigation between businesses,heard before specialist judges assigned to these courts. Commercial Courts outside the United States may have broader or narrower jurisdiction than state trial level business and commercial courts within the United States,for example patent or admiralty jurisdiction;and jurisdiction may vary between countries.
Jerrauld Corey Jones is an American politician and jurist. He was a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates 1988-2002,representing the 89th District in Norfolk. He is currently a judge of the Norfolk Circuit Court.
The law of Virginia consists of several levels of legal rules,including constitutional,statutory,regulatory,case law,and local laws. The Code of Virginia contains the codified legislation that define the general statutory laws for the Commonwealth.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Virginia since October 6,2014,following the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear an appeal of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in Bostic v. Schaefer. Same-sex marriages subsequently began at 1:00 p.m. on October 6 after the Fourth Circuit issued its mandate,and since then Virginia has performed legal marriages of same-sex couples and recognized out-of-state same-sex marriages. Previously,the state had passed a statute prohibiting same-sex marriage in 1975,and further restrictions were added in 1997 and 2004,which made "void and unenforceable" any arrangements between same-sex couples bestowing the "privileges or obligations of marriage". Voters approved an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia reinforcing the existing laws in 2006. On January 14,2014,a U.S. district court judge ruled in Bostic that Virginia's statutory and constitutional ban on the state recognition of same-sex marriages were unconstitutional,a decision upheld by the Fourth Circuit on July 28,2014.
Joseph Cornell Lindsey is a Virginia judge in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Formerly a lawyer in private practice in Norfolk,substitute judge in that court for 16 years and Democratic politician,he represented (part-time) the 90th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2014 until November 15,2020,when he resigned to accept the judicial appointment;fellow Democrat Angelia Williams Graves succeeded to the seat.
David Bernhard is an American jurist who is a trial judge of the Fairfax Circuit Court,elected February 23,2017,by the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates,for an 8-year term commencing July 1,2017. Bernhard is the second immigrant,and the first one from Latin America,to have been elected to the Virginia Circuit Court. Bernhard was sworn into office on June 30,2017.
Michael Joshua Lindner is a judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit General District Court of Virginia (Fairfax),in the United States,elected February 25,2015 by the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates,for a 6-year term commencing July 1,2015. His election was preceded by a selection process wherein candidates were evaluated by the Fairfax Bar Judicial Selection Committee which issued an Executive Summary on his candidacy.
William Lynn "Chip" Campbell Jr. is an American lawyer who serves as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Glen Alton Huff is a Judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Christopher C. Wilkes was chief judge for West Virginia's largest judicial circuit,the 23rd Judicial Circuit,encompassing Morgan,Jefferson,and Berkeley counties. Wilkes was first elected to the court in 1992 and has served on the bench since 1993. He has been reelected four times since,most recently in 2016. On August 17,2018,he announced his candidacy for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Division 1. He was not elected,placing third among ten candidates.
Andrew Joseph "A. Joe" Canada Jr. is an American attorney,former state judge and Republican Party politician who served sixteen years in the Virginia Senate (1972-1988) and then as Circuit Judge in Virginia Beach (1996-2009).
