May 18, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: Regardless of the governor’s decision not to gerrymander the Virginia Supreme Court, Virginia has always been an authoritarian state; one of the pillars of that authoritarian establishment has been the legal system. Most don’t know this but appeals or even higher court business can only be conducted on the basis of an error in the legal process. No new evidence is allowed.
So if the legislature is going to redo the Supreme Court it needs to do the Court of Appeals as well and allow the introduction of new evidence in any case. Both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are stacked with authoritarian judges who consider the interface between law and justice as accidental and subject to process based issues only.
So cleanse the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals; give them much more restricted term limits and return power to the people where Jefferson actually wanted it. Methinks the Virginia establishment thought he was too liberal for Virginia anyway. TOBIAS PHILBIN Lexington
