Virginia Supreme Court refuses to review AG’s appeal in college board appointees case

The Virginia Supreme Court has refused to take up a circumstance that suspended multiple appointees by Gov Glenn Youngkin from serving on three Virginia university governing boards Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares appealed to the court after the Fairfax County Circuit Court suspended eight governing board appointments from serving at George Mason University Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia The -member Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections rejected appointments in the past year and the issue has been one of several that rocked Virginia s higher tuition landscape in The court heard arguments from the attorney general s office representing the three governing board rectors asking for a temporary injunction be lifted in order for appointees to serve less than three weeks ago Attorneys representing the nine Democratic state senators who requested the temporary injunction also made arguments asking for the lower court s order to be upheld In its order on Monday the high court mentioned the occurrence must be allowed to continue and that it will not review the temporary decision but the rectors can appeal the overall final outcome later Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell D-Fairfax posted on social media that the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the Senate P E Committees authority to reject gubernatorial nominations because MAGA rules don t work in Virginia where we still have a rule of law that Youngkin and Miyares have to follow In Virginia when the governor nominates a candidate to a board or commission to a seat they need the General Assembly s approval During each legislative session it is common practice for the General Assembly to vote on the list of gubernatorial candidates in both chambers However senators rejected the appointees outside of the regular session a move they noted would protect Virginia s institutions of higher learning from partisan attacks but that Youngkin and Miyares noted flouted the law The attorney general s office did not right now comment or respond to what its next step will be following the Supreme Court s decision The attorney general s office had previously argued that the circuit court s decision was incorrect asserting that the court lacked jurisdiction and that the vote by the senate committee did not meet the requirement for a final refusal because there were other tactics for appointments to be proven However the senators specific of whom serve on the committee argued that disclosed the committee s decision to block the board nominees was a definitive refusal No trial date has been set yet in Fairfax County It s uncertain when the matter will continue as Youngkin s administration prepares to transition out of power and with Gov -elect Abigail Spanberger s gang being sworn in mid-January The Mercury contacted Attorney General-elect Jay Jones for comment on if his office would continue to pursue the episode once he is in office but has not received a response GET THE MORNING HEADLINES SUBSCRIBE figure tipContainer socContainer subscribeShortcodeContainer donateContainer display none major youtubeContainer position relative padding-bottom padding-top px height overflow hidden margin-bottom px youtubeContainer iframe video-container object video-container embed position absolute top left width vital height margin px px vital newsroomSidebar width max-width padding px border-top solid px black background-color d d d float right margin-left px snrsInfoboxSubContainer padding px border-top solid px black background-color d d d halfwidth float right width max-width indent Container margin-left em margin-bottom em border-left solid px black padding-left em media only screen and max-width px newsroomSidebar max-width width margin-left halfwidth float none width max-width Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom a nonprofit news configuration supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a c general charity Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions info virginiamercury com Source