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Groups including the NAACP are calling for greater diversity on Virginia’s second-highest court as it adds six new judges.
Of the Court of Appeals’ 10 current members, only three are women and only one is a person of color — and most of the judges are former prosecutors and private attorneys.
So advocates say now is the time to add more people of color, women and lawyers with experience as public defenders or legal aid attorneys or working for public interest organizations.
They say a more diverse court will make better and fairer decisions because its judges will have different life and career experiences.
In a letter sent to Virginia bar leaders Monday, six organizations and the head of a state teachers’ union asked them to recommend “demographically and professionally diverse lawyers” to the legislative committees that recommend who the General Assembly should name to the court.
“The addition of six new seats to the Court presents a unique opportunity to bring balance and representation to this important bench, whose past and current members are increasingly unrepresentative of the population of the Commonwealth as a whole and who represent a narrow sliver of the legal profession from which they are chosen,” reads the letter, which was signed by the NAACP Virginia State Conference; Justice Forward Virginia; Demand Justice; Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund; the Asian American and Pacific Islander Action Alliance and Victory Fund; and the teachers’ union official, Virginia Education Association President James Fedderman.
In an email Monday afternoon, a Virginia State Bar spokesperson said staff there had not seen the letter until a reporter provided it and had yet to consult bar leaders on a response.
The General Assembly earlier this year voted to increase the number of Court of Appeals judges by six — from 11 to 17 — as part of a law that expands the court’s jurisdiction.
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Because the state Supreme Court issues only a few dozen opinions a year, the Court of Appeals — which issues hundreds — is the last hope for most Virginians who think they’ve been wronged by the courts.
In their letter, the organizations wrote that the court has had only 10 women serve as judges in its history, and it’s never had a Latino, Asian-American or Native American judge. Judge Mary Malveaux is only the second Black person and second person of color to sit on the appeals court, they wrote.
“In a Commonwealth that, like the country more broadly, is rapidly becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, such a lack of demographic diversity in the judicial system is wholly unacceptable,” the letter says.
In calling for more judges with diverse professional backgrounds, the groups said these lawyers better understand the experiences of those before them and the “disparate burdens that laws often place on people who are living with low incomes or otherwise marginalized.”
They cited research by an Emory University law professor that found federal judges who used to be prosecutors or corporate lawyers were more likely to side with employers in employment cases. NPR reported the research received funding from Demand Justice, one of the groups that signed the letter to Virginia bar leaders this week.
“Diversity on the bench is critical to the strength and legitimacy of the judiciary, and diversity of experience is essential to creating a system that fairly addresses each litigant’s circumstances,” the letter says. “This is especially true in appellate courts, where panels of judges deliberate together in reaching decisions.”
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com