"Charlottesville defense attorney Cheryl V. Higgins won unanimous backing of the Republican legislators from the 16th Judicial Circuit on Thursday, which guarantees that she will become the first woman chosen by the General Assembly for the region’s circuit court bench.

Higgins, 45, of Ivy, is scheduled to become the legislature’s pick today or Saturday to replace retired Albemarle Circuit Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr.

Faced with the choice of acting by Saturday or leaving the selection up to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Richmond Democrat, the GOP legislators met for 30 minutes in the eighth-floor office of Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, and chose Higgins, the only candidate among three finalists who had been rated “highly qualified” by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association.

Eight judicial candidates had stepped forward for the eight-year term to succeed Peatross, whose retirement became effective Jan. 31, and Republican legislators driving the process had narrowed the finalists to Higgins and Jim Camblos of Crozet, the Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney, and Claude V. Worrell of Scottsville, a longtime Charlottesville assistant prosecutor.

Higgins, a lawyer in private practice for 10 years following 10 years as an assistant prosecutor, said she received a phone call about 10 a.m. Thursday from Bell and Del. Bill Janis, R-Glen Allen, who told her they wanted to be the first to call her “your Honor.”

“I said, ‘Are you kidding? Are you kidding?’” and added that she told them they would not be disappointed with their choice.

Three Democrats from the circuit called the choice of Higgins a good one but said their participation in a mostly secretive process was minimal.

“I think she’s a good choice, and I’ll support her when the vote comes,” said Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville.

“I don’t like how the process unfolded, but ultimately I think we all have a judge that we can support, and I think people in the community will be satisfied with the result,” Toscano said.

Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, called the GOP-engineered result “a positive step. She’s bar-endorsed. She’s got all the qualifications to be a judge. I’m sure she’ll do an excellent job.”

Deeds said the judicial selection process should change to a merit-based process not driven by partisan politics.

“Power, once achieved, is difficult to give up, whether it’s redistricting or making judges,” Deeds said.

For most of the past week, Higgins had been the choice of six delegates from the circuit while Camblos, a fellow Republican, had appeared to be the favorite of the four GOP senators, according to Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Mount Solon, who favored Camblos. Worrell, a third Republican, also was certified Tuesday as qualified for the judgeship.

“The process is horrible,” said Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania. “I have not been included,” nor was Deeds. “We all represent the interests of people in that circuit, so we should all participate in the selection.”

Bell, who guided the process in the House of Delegates, said a number of well-qualified candidates made the final selection “a very hard choice. … I would suspect that several of them would become judges over the next several years.”

He took an informal straw poll of all six delegates representing portions of the circuit and tallied the results as favoring Higgins. The votes of Toscano and Del. Watkins M. Abbitt, I-Appomattox, were tallied along with those of the circuit’s four GOP delegates.

On the Senate side, discussion was led by Hanger.

“I don’t know that the Senate ever had a hard position” for any one candidate, said Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Midlothian.

“I know that there were one or two senators that had somewhat staked out a position,” said Watkins, one of three GOP senators who met in Bell’s office. “It was a pretty open and frank discussion and everybody was tolerant of the opinion of others and the concerns expressed by others.”

“There were several very able individuals who had requested consideration with regard to that appointment,” Watkins said. “I think what we tried to do is find an individual that had the qualifications that was not in any way conflicted, if you would, with the retirement prospect and the opening of that judgeship, and [Higgins] pretty much fit that centrist mold.”

Higgins would be able to fill the judgeship probably by some time in April.

Camblos had been involved in a protracted legal dispute with Peatross and also had told legislators that as a prosecutor, it might take some months before he could have heard criminal cases on the Albemarle Circuit Court bench.

Janis said the process yielded a judicial choice who “has got extensive experience in several prosecutors’ offices. I think she is a very thoughtful person and has a comprehensive command of the criminal procedure, criminal law. Although her practice is predominantly criminal, she does a substantial amount of civil work.”

The only problem with the selection is the disappointment “that we can’t elect every one of the qualified candidates today, but at the end of the day we had to select only one name,” Janis said.

The 16th Circuit stretches from Goochland west to Charlottesville and north to Culpeper. Higgins is slated to become one of five circuit judges sharing the bench for Albemarle, Charlottesville, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison and Orange." (Bob Gibson, The Daily Progress, February 22, 2007)