Celebrating 100 years in November

Coming up later in November is the event to celebrate the 100 years of the Big Stone Gap federal courthouse, which still looks just about like this, but for the wheelchair ramp on the side and there is no more flagpole on top, that I recall.

On the Bristol Circuit Court Clerk's race

The Bristol paper reports here on the candidates for Clerk of Court for the Circuit Court of Bristol, Virginia.

Terry Rohr can tell people that I am for her or against her, whichever will get her the most votes. Some state court clerk's offices are better than others - the Bristol office has always been helpful.

Her opponent suggests that Bristol might be better off if the technology in the Clerk's office was more cutting edge. I am not so sure about that. The problems I have had from time to time with the eLegal system they use for electronic filing in civil cases in Wise County make me think that that system is not quite perfected.

On the new Justice Powell from Virginia

Here is a report from the Richmond paper on the swearing in of Justice Cleo Powell, and here is an interesting story about the photography at the event. I don't know which of the photographers took the photograph shown here, from a media website.

Speculations about Senator Puckett's seat

Both the Bristol and Roanoke papers ran articles suggesting that Senator Puckett is in a competitive race for re-election, where his opponent is Adam Light. The Washington Post reported similarly on statewide Republican donations to Light.

In the pursuit of re-election, Senator Puckett has declared that he will not vote to re-elect President Obama in 2012, as stated here and here and here and here.

Got an iPhone

The new phone is a wonder, as in I wonder if I will ever figure it out.

On Rules of Evidence for Virginia

Today the VLW Daily Alert reports that the Virginia Supreme Court has adopted Rules of Evidence, and includes an article that suggests that their adoption is a result of Cynthia Kinser becoming the Chief Justice.

It may be evident from some of her opinions (such as the opinion for the Court in Shaheen v. County of Mathews) that Chief Justice Kinser is not as averse to the use of federal precedents as were some of her predecessors on the Court.

Two examples of this former aversion that stick in my head would include Jordan v. Clay's Rest Home, in which the Court by Justice Compton pointedly rejected the federal proof scheme developed over decades for resolving circumstantial cases of employment discrimination, and Doe v. Isaacs, in which the Court again by Justice Compton expressly refused to consider an unpublished Fourth Circuit opinion (by a panel that included Emory Widener).

The only opposition to Rule of Evidence that I ever heard among lawyers was the fear in some circles that it would lead to the adoption of the dreaded Daubert standard for the admissibility of expert testimony, which is viewed as anti-plaintiff. On the difference if any between the Virginia law of evidence and Daubert, I have often recommended this article by Judge Kelsey.