Justice Steven Agee's Confirmation

     This week I have been slack on my blogs because of casework commitments. However, a news story caught my attention regarding the Senate confirmation hearings for Justice Steven Agee. He currently sits on the Virginia Supreme Court and has been nominated to become a federal appeals Judge. Such an appointment requires US Senate confirmation.

     As expected, part of the confirmation hearings include examination of a candidate's club memberships. In this instance, Senator Benjamin L.Cardin (D-MD) questioned Justice Agee regarding his membership at The Shenandoah Club. Justice Agee was asked whether he knew that his club discriminated against African Americans when he joined in 1980. His response,"I can't recall if I had specific knowledge of that. Certainly, as time went on it seemed more likely than not that that occurred. After some period of time I resigned." This response was reported by the Media General News Service.

     When I read that response, it made me want to know the dates of the Justice's membership. Amazingly, he was a member from 1980 until 1987. The club was founded in 1893. Shortly after his resignation, the club changed its membership policies in 1988. His response would lead you to believe that all of a sudden, the membership discrimination just dawned on him. Maybe he never looked around the golf course or the dining room!

     It will be interesting to see if this has any bearing on this confirmation. For Virginia, it obviously had no impact. This questioning came during a 40 minute hearing for Agee. The Richmond based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction covering South Carolina,North Carolina,Virginia and Maryland. It has the highest percentage of African-American population of any appeals court in the country.