No excuse for court vacancies

It's little mystery why legislators have had trouble choosing new judges in recent years: Democrats control the Senate; Republicans run the House. Both sides must agree on bench selections, and mature conversations are distressingly scarce around the state Capitol.

But the General Assembly's failure to fill two seats in the Virginia Supreme Court defies explanation.

The solution would be obvious to any pair of kindergarteners selected at random, yet somehow senators and delegates have failed to reach the epiphany that each side could choose one judge apiece.

The depressing excuse is that legislators have been busy drawing new political maps that will ensure them an easy re-election bid this fall. In the scramble to save their own hides, they haven't had time to bother with other branches of government, except of course when the governor vetoed their first set of gerrymandered maps.

After legislators finally reached a compromise on redistricting acceptable to the governor, they were just too tired to stick around and vote on judges.

The dignity of both the legislative and judicial branches of government has been worn thin by partisan nonsense. The gamesmanship is also an insult to the two men whose departures have created the vacancies, the late Leroy Hassell Sr. and the retiring Lawrence Koontz Jr.

Lawmakers will make another attempt to settle the matter later this year when they return to vote on new congressional districts.

If they fail, the chore will fall to Gov. Bob McDonnell. He may have trouble persuading quality candidates to give up their jobs for a bench assignment that could be yanked by legislators next year, even though appointments made by former Gov. Tim Kaine in a similar stalemate were ultimately endorsed by the General Assembly.

Virginia and South Carolina are the only two states in which legislators choose judges. More flawed methods exist, particularly in states where judges raise money and air negative ads in partisan elections.

But Virginia's lawmakers seem determined to prove they are no longer capable of handling this important task.

Thirty-four states employ some form of merit selection, in which nominating commissions screen would-be jurists. In most cases, the governor makes the final decision.

The merits of the candidates for the Virginia Supreme Court are not in question in this instance. All of them hold impressive credentials. But the merits of those legislators who want this important responsibility, yet somehow can't manage to handle it, are increasingly under a cloud. It's time to consider a change.