JUDGE ALSTON ELECTED TO CAV

 
[Posted February 11, 2009] The General Assembly has elevated Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr. to the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Judge Alston is the second relatively recent departure from the Prince William court to head to the placid world of appellate briefs and arguments, following Justice Lee Millette, who went from Prince William to the CAV in 2007 and thence to the Supreme Court last year.

The move gives the Court of Appeals a full slate of eleven active judges and five senior judges, so appellant litigants should expect relatively fast action on their appeals for the foreseeable future.

The legislature also ratified the Governor’s choices of Justice Millette for the Supreme Court and Judge Cleo Powell for the Court of Appeals. Their interim appointments would have expired on Friday if the General Assembly had not acted. Fortunately, the legislators avoided last year’s logjams, so all is well in the land of appellate judges’ chambers. For now.