THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070478
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
A new front-runner appears to have emerged among black legislative leaders hoping to appoint the city's first black judge.
Two members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus voiced their support for attorney S. Bernard Goodwyn on Tuesday to fill a new judgeship created in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court - sealing their determination to change the face of the city's all-male, all-white judiciary.
State Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, said during a legislative forum sponsored by the Chesapeake branch of the NAACP that she was ``committed'' to supporting Goodwyn, a Southampton County native who teaches at the University of Virginia's law school. Lucas said she made that promise to constituents in four localities after the Chesapeake NAACP submitted Goodwyn's name for a vacancy on the General District Court bench two years ago.
``I do not know one member (of the caucus) that's opposing my nominee,'' Lucas said, but added, ``just our nomination alone is not going to carry that person to the bench.''
If the 13-member caucus can agree on a candidate for the bench, its recommendation could carry significant weight with the Democratic-majority General Assembly.
Although the caucus has not taken an official vote, the support for Goodwyn from Lucas and Del. William P. Robinson Jr., D-Norfolk, could signal its intent.
Chesapeake attorney Eileen Olds had been considered the front-runner, with substantial support among NAACP members.
Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, who also attended the forum, voiced his support for Olds. Earley is a member of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, which reviews the qualifications of all judicial candidates.
But Robinson said he was ``partial'' to Goodwyn, a fellow Harvard Law School graduate. ``He's a good lawyer and he's a good man,'' Robinson said. ``We anticipate that we will have the first African-American judgeship in Chesapeake.''
Another possible candidate for the judgeship is city attorney Leonard L. Brown Jr. by CNB