This is a list of past and present judges of the Supreme Court of Virginia. The court's name was the Supreme Court of Appeals until it was changed in 1971.The Constitution of 1971 designated the court only as the Supreme Court. All prior constitutions, beginning with the Constitution of 1776, designated the court as the Supreme Court of Appeals. Members were titled Judge until a 1928 constitutional amendment changed the title to Justice and designated the presiding member Chief Justice., as amended June 19, 1928.
Current justices
The court presently is made up of seven justices, each elected by a majority vote of both houses of the General Assembly for a term of twelve years. To be eligible for election, a candidate must be a resident of Virginia and must have been a member of the Virginia State Bar for at least five years. Vacancies on the court occurring between sessions of the General Assembly may be filled by the Governor for a term expiring thirty days after the commencement of the next session of the General Assembly. The Chief Justice presently is chosen by a vote of the seven justices for a term of four years. There is no statutory limit to the number of four-year terms to which a Chief Justice may be elected. However, the Court has stated that the justices internally adopted a two-term limit.
State law requires justices, like all Virginia jurists, to retire no later than twenty days after the commencement of the next regular session of the General Assembly following their seventy-third birthday. In 2015, the General Assembly increased the mandatory retirement age from 70 to 73. The court may designate up to five retired justices to serve as senior justices, each for a renewable one-year term. Senior justices may sit with the court either to hear petitions for appeal or to hear cases on the merits, particularly to replace any of the seven active justices who may be recused from hearing a specific case. In addition, a retired justice who has not been designated as a senior justice may sit with the court by special designation.
Active justices
NameBornStartTerm ends Mandatory retirementLaw schoolPartisan control at electionHouse of Delegates Senate, Chief JusticeVirginia Republican (+18) Democratic (+4) Republican (+4) Democratic (+4)William and Mary Republican (+34) Republican (+1)Richmond Republican (+32) Republican (+2)Richmond Republican (+2) Republican (+2)George Mason Republican (+4) Democratic (+4)AmericanWilliam and Mary Democratic (+2) Democratic (+2)
Senior justices NameActive startActive endSenior status startLaw schoolWilliam and MaryGWUGeorgetown (LLM)
Former justices
Members ex officio (1778–88) The Constitution of 1776 provided for a Supreme Court of Appeals but did not specify its structure, leaving the General Assembly to organize the court by statute. The first such statute was enacted at the October 1778 legislative session. From that time until 1788, no one was appointed or elected specifically to serve on the Supreme Court of Appeals. Rather, the court was made up of the three judges of the High Court of Chancery, the five judges of the General Court, and the three judges of the Court of Admiralty, each of whom was elected by the General Assembly to life terms on those courts and served on the Supreme Court of Appeals ex officio.. This statute was repealed and replaced the following year but the material provisions of the replacement statute were the same. .
The following judges were members of the court by virtue of having been elected judges of the High Court of Chancery, the General Court, and the Court of Admiralty, in the courts' order of precedence under the statute. The terms listed below run from each member's accession to those respective courts, which were created in 1776 and 1777, before the Supreme Court of Appeals was created. Ex officio membership ended on December 24, 1788, when the Supreme Court of Appeals became a separate body with five judges.. This statute was superseded in 1791, , and 1818, , but the material provisions were unchanged.
The High Court of Chancery:. Edmund Pendleton, January 14, 1778 – December 24, 1788 George Wythe, January 14, 1778 – December 24, 1788 Robert Carter Nicholas Sr., January 14, 1778 – November 1780 John Blair Jr., November 23, 1780 – December 24, 1788
The General Court:. Paul Carrington, January 23, 1778 – December 24, 1788 Thomas Mason, January 23, 1778 – May 28, 1778 Joseph Jones, January 23, 1778 – October 1779 John Blair Jr., January 23, 1778 – November 23, 1780 John Tazewell, May 29, 1778 – November 1781 Bartholomew Dandridge, May 29, 1778 – April 1785 Peter Lyons, October 20, 1779 – December 24, 1788 William Fleming, November 25, 1780 – December 24, 1788 James Mercer, November 30, 1781 – December 24, 1788 Henry Tazewell, April 25, 1785 – December 24, 1788 Edmund Winston, December 11, 1788 – December 24, 1788
The Court of Admiralty:. Richard Cary, December 17, 1776 – December 24, 1788 Benjamin Holt, December 17, 1776 – unknown Bernard Moore, December 17, 1776 – unknown Benjamin Waller, May 1779 – December 1785 William Roscoe Wilson Curl, May 1779 – unknown James Henry, unknown – December 24, 1788 John Tyler, December 20, 1785 – December 24, 1788
Members since 1788 In December 1788, within the broad authority provided by the Constitution of 1776, the General Assembly re-organized the Supreme Court of Appeals as a separate court with five judges elected by the legislature to life terms. The General Assembly elected two incumbent judges of the High Court of Chancery and three incumbent judges of the General Court as the first judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals in their own right. While the court has remained separate ever since, the number of seats has varied. In January 1807, while one of the five seats was vacant, the General Assembly reduced the number to four with the provision that it be further reduced to three upon the next vacancy.. The number was restored to five in January 1811.. This statute was superseded in 1791, , and 1818, , but the material provisions were unchanged.
The next significant alteration to the court came with the Constitution of 1851. It provided for the popular election of judges to the court, one from each of five districts, and imposed a twelve-year term.. As the Emancipation Proclamation became effective in Virginia during the American Civil War (particularly after the Commonwealth surrendered in April 1865 and 13th Amendment became effective in December 1865), the 1851 Constitution's authorization of slavery became illegal under federal law. Thus, Virginia needed a new Constitution.
Federal authorities in occupied areas called a convention with delegates from occupied areas only, which proclaimed the Constitution of 1864. Although voters statewide never were asked to authorize it in a referendum, it came into (disputed) effect, until a new state Constitution was adopted by popular referendum, then undisputedly came into effect in 1870. Federal military authorities allowed voters statewide to elect delegates to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868. Virginia voters overwhelmingly ratified that document the following year, except for certain provisions penalizing former Confederates, which failed. The Constitution of 1864 had ended popular election of judges, instead providing (for the first time) that the General Assembly would elect the judges from candidates nominated by the Governor.. It also reduced the court to three judges.. On June 3, 1869, during Congressional Reconstruction, Major General John Schofield (who governed Virginia as Military District No. 1 and also led efforts to allow separate votes on the proposed Constitution and anti-Confederate provisions), dismissed all three elected judges because a new federal law required removal of officials in Texas and Virginia with any record of service to the Confederacy. On June 9, Schofield appointed three Union sympathizers (whom he had previously appointed judges of lower courts, where they had performed satisfactorily) as their replacements. Those three judges served (and issued binding rulings) until the new state Constitution came into effect and legislators elected replacements.
The post-Reconstruction Constitution of 1870 eliminated the short-lived provision for gubernatorial nominations, as well as restored the court to five judges.. None of the three Union men was elected to the Court by the General Assembly. Legislators did elect two of the three judges elected by voters, and three additional judges. Legislation also allowed the court's members to elect their President, and in March 1870, the new Court elected R.C.L. Moncure (who had the most seniority) their President (the third man to hold that title).
The Constitution of 1902 staggered the five seats by requiring that at the next election of judges, one judge would be elected to a term of 4 years, one to a term of 6 years, one to a term of 8 years, one to a term of 10 years, and one to a term of 12 years. It perpetuated this staggering by providing that any new judge elected to fill a vacancy would serve only the unexpired portion of his predecessor's term.
In 1906, the General Assembly re-elected each of the five incumbent judges, whose terms were all due to expire the following January 1, to fill the newly staggered seats. An amendment ratified in 1928 increased the number of seats to seven but it did not stagger the two new seats. The Constitution of 1971 eliminated the staggering of seats by providing that any new judge elected to fill a vacancy serve a full twelve-year term.
These are the former members of the court from 1788, in order of their accession to office. Those who served as presiding officer are designated by italics.
Edmund Pendleton, December 24, 1788 – October 23, 1803 John Blair Jr., December 24, 1788 – September 30, 1789 Paul Carrington, December 24, 1788 – January 1, 1807 Peter Lyons, December 24, 1788 – July 30, 1809 William Fleming, December 24, 1788 – February 15, 1824 James Mercer, November 14, 1789 – October 1793 Henry Tazewell, November 6, 1793 – November 1794 Spencer Roane, April 13, 1795 – September 4, 1822 St. George Tucker, April 11, 1804 – April 2, 1811 James Pleasants, January 30, 1811 – March 1811 Francis T. Brooke, March 4, 1811 – March 3, 1851 William H. Cabell, April 3, 1811 – 1852 This records the judges popularly elected under the Constitution of 1851 but does not specify the date on which the terms of Judge Cabell and Judge Baldwin, who were not elected, expired, or that on which the terms of Judge Lee and Judge Samuels, who were newly elected, began. John Coalter, June 1, 1811 – March 23, 1831 John W. Green, October 11, 1822 – February 5, 1834 Dabney Carr, February 24, 1824 – January 8, 1837 Henry St. George Tucker Sr., March 1831 – 1841 This records that Judge Tucker resigned in summer of 1841 and was replaced by Judge Baldwin, but does not specify when the vacancy was created or filled. William Brockenbrough, February 20, 1834 – December 10, 1838 Richard E. Parker, February 9, 1837 – September 10, 1840 Robert Stanard, January 19, 1839 – May 14, 1846 John J. Allen, December 14, 1840 – 1866 This records the judges elected by the General Assembly under the Constitution of 1864 following the reduction of the court from five judges to three but does not specify the date on which the terms of Judge Allen, Judge Daniel, Judge Lee, and Judge Robertson expired, or that on which the terms of Judge Joynes and Judge Thompson, who were newly elected, began. It likewise records that Judge Rives replaced Judge Thompson but not the specific date. Briscoe Baldwin, January 29, 1842 – 1852 William Daniel, December 15, 1846 – 1866 Richard C. L. Moncure, March 13, 1851 – June 3, 1869, 1870 – August 24, 1882 Green Berry Samuels, 1852 – January 5, 1859 George Hay Lee, 1852 – 1866 William J. Robertson, May 1859 – 1866