Democracy Denied

Wesley T. Gallop (River North Correctional)

Everybody should know that human nature is inherently flawed, and being that humans run and control the criminal justice system, it is, by its essence, equally flawed. However, when you allow the power of government to fall into the hands of a few people, the system can move from flawed to tyrannical. Allow me to use an example from my home state of Virginia.

Research allowed me to discover two very interesting clauses in the Constitution of Virginia. These sections stated, in part, that “The justices of the Supreme Court shall be chosen by the vote of a majority of members elected to each house of the General Assembly for terms of twelve years. The judges for all other courts of records shall be chosen by the vote of the majority of members reelected to each house of the General Assembly for terms of eight years…” See Article 6, Section 7, of the Constitution of Virginia.

Further, Article 6, Section 9 of the same Constitution states, in part, “All justices of the Supreme Court and judges of other courts of record shall be commissioned by the Governor. They [the Supreme Court] shall receive such salaries and allowances as shall be prescribed by the General Assembly…” and the “General Assembly may enact such laws as it deems necessary for the retirement of justices and judges, with such conditions, compensation, and duties as it may prescribe.”

In layman’s terms, this means that the General Assembly of Virginia not only helps create the laws for the state of Virginia but also chooses which judges will interpret and apply these laws, as well as fix the salaries and allowances, and retirement compensation for the justices and judges.

Now that’s power. 

The Commonwealth’s Courts of Justice play a vital role in this process, also.

Selection of state court judges in Virginia occurs almost exclusively through legislative selection. Having used this method even before it was granted statehood, Virginia is one of only two states in the country, the other being South Carolina, where judges are selected this way. 

Ask yourselves, if the General Assembly has practically complete control over who is elected to judgeships in Virginia and fixes their salaries, can there be any objectivity in the judges' decisions in matters important to the General Assembly? Human nature and common sense say ‘no’.

In order for checks and balances to work, each branch of the government and each member of the government, while serving their constituents, must remain impartial. Also, according to the Sixth Amendment Center, among all the states and territories of the United States, only Virginia does not expressly provide a right to counsel in criminal cases in its Constitution.

I doubt that this is a mistake.

The fourth president of the United States wisely stated that, “The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands… may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”– James Madison, Federalist.

This is the exact tyranny happening in Virginia today.

It’s time for a change.

The only way to change this method is to show the Virginia government that it is in the best interest of the people to be able to participate in the election of our justices and judges. Therefore, we, the good people of Virginia, in the exercise of our sovereign powers, must take the initiative and let the legislators know that we want to be included in the election of justices and judges that preside on Virginia benches. 

We also want the right to counsel in criminal cases embedded in Virginia’s Constitution in order to prevent the overwhelming power of the government from oppressing the poor and wrongly accused. This is our right and we want our rights enforced. 

The goal of this essay is to bring awareness to these injustices and to energize Virginia voters to act in the best interest of the community and rid themselves of tyrannical rule.