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Former Attorney General up for Judicial Opening
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April 6th, 2011
Virginia: The Virginia General Assembly's Senate and House Courts of Justice committees interviewed ten candidates on April 5th, 2011 for the Virginia Supreme Court. Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr., the first black chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, passed away on February 9th, 2011, leaving the vacancy. Hassell's term was set to expire on January 31st, 2014.[1]
Candidates for the vacancy have included former attorney general Mark Earley, senior appellate counsel Stephen McCullough with the Virginia Attorney General's Office and Judge Cleo E. Powell. Powell was the first Virginia Court of Appeals judge that was an African American woman.[1]
Candidate Mark Earley, who was also a former state senator, is interested in a state court of appeals position that may open up if any current state court of appeals judges are moved to the Virginia Supreme Court. Earley does not object being considered for the Supreme Court position, but he is not really pushing for it as there are other candidates, some being friends, that expressed interest in the position before he did.[2]
Since the year 2002, Mark Earley has helped prepare prison inmates for going back out into society by serving as president of a Christian-based, nonprofit organization known as Prison Fellowship, which was founded in 1976 by Charles W. Colson and works together with inmates and their families.[1]
Earley recently stepped down from Prison Fellowship, stating that he was not "contemplating anything - I was just ready for a change."[1]
When being interviewed, Earley stated that prisoner re-entry was "the new frontier of public safety," and that the court systems have been doing a very good job at locking up criminals over the years. However, after a while most inmates will be going back out into society and will need help on becoming productive citizens of society once more.[1]
"I've sort of seen it from both sides," Earley commented in his interview, referencing that he worked as attorney general to keep criminals locked up, in addition to helping prepare them for society once again through the Prison Fellowship.[1]
Footnotes
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