The Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond (Photo by Parker Michels-Boyce for The Virginia Mercury)
On Monday evening, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed an appeal to lift the temporary suspension of eight gubernatorial appointments from serving on three governing boards at Virginia’s higher education institutions.
On July 29, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Jonathan D. Frieden ruled in favor of nine Democratic senators who filed the lawsuit after the appointees continued serving without being confirmed by the General Assembly. Frieden opined that the Senate committee on Privileges and Elections’ rejection of the appointees served as a signal that the legislature wasn’t willing to confirm the new additions to the boards.
The senators consider George Mason University Rector Charles Stimson, University of Virginia Rector Rachel Sheridan, and Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors President James P. Inman, all of whom are named in the suit, as responsible for allowing the rejected appointments to serve on their respective boards.
Miyares said the temporary injunction granted by Reid is causing more problems than it solves for the courts and the institutional leaders.
“A central purpose of a preliminary injunction is to preserve the status quo between the parties while litigation is ongoing,” wrote Miyares. “But the circuit court’s preliminary injunction disrupts the status quo, compelling the Rectors to take the unprecedented step of barring participation by board members who have been serving for months—a step they do not have the legal power to take.”
In his petition, Miyares argues that the circuit court’s injunction is incorrect because the Senators don’t have the right to sue and are targeting the wrong defendants, specifically the university rectors.
He also stated that the senators did not demonstrate that they would suffer any irreparable harm and are unlikely to succeed on their constitutional claim. He explained that the refusal of the appointees must involve a “completed and final refusal” by both the House and Senate, not just the committee of senators who rejected the appointments. The attorney general added that the senators’ theory that a vote by one committee of one chamber constitutes refusal by the General Assembly is wrong.
Before the appeal was filed, Democrats stated that the court affirmed the Senate’s constitutional authority to confirm or reject board nominees, and that the Senate’s authority cannot be bypassed. Democrats including President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, and Committee Chair Aaron Rouse, Virginia Beach filed the initial suit.
In response to Miyares’ petition, Surovell said Tuesday he was puzzled by the AG’s argument that “the General Assembly has been confirming people in the wrong way for the last 100 years” when Miyares served in the House of Delegates for six of those years and “never said anything.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Senate Democrats posted a video on social media reiterating their intent to defend Virginia’s public universities from partisan attacks.
No court date has been set, as the Supreme Court will determine whether to hear the case.
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Author: Nathaniel Cline
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