RICHMOND

Judicial vacancies on several South Hampton Roads courts could go unfilled by the General Assembly if the stalemate between some legislators charged with making those appointments isn't resolved.

Lawmakers say impasses over naming judges - and accompanying threats that the process will be derailed as a result - are common in the General Assembly.

Typically, both sides give a little and an accord is reached. But that may not occur this session, which is scheduled to end Saturday.

Sharp disagreement over judicial candidates remains between some members of the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Emboldened by gains they made in the November election, adding members in the House and taking a two-seat majority in the Senate, Democrats say they are willing to stall the appointment process if the GOP won't budge.

"We're headed for an enormous collision in the judicial selection process," said Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, a member of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

"There are senators who are going to block the appointments if there is not a compromise," said Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth.

The House and Senate Courts of Justice committees are tasked with interviewing candidates for judicial vacancies and making recommendations to the full legislature, which elects judges.

Some judicial candidates are scheduled to be interviewed by legislators at a meeting today.

There are 24 open positions on local courts across the state. Among them are two Circuit Court vacancies each in Chesapeake and Norfolk, and one each in Virginia Beach and Hampton.

Suffolk and Hampton have one General District Court opening apiece; Hampton also has an opening on its Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake, said Republicans have been unwilling to bargain. "What they don't realize is the Republicans don't control the General Assembly anymore, they control half of it," he said.

Spruill said each party should get to name a judge to one of the two Chesapeake Circuit Court openings. "They are playing hardball," he said. "Here's a case where there should be no fight at all.... You get one, I get one. But they want to get both of them."

Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, said the shift in power has worried him for months about whether there would be consensus on judicial appointments.

"But I'm optimistic," he said. "We'll find a common agreement."

If appointments are not made by the time the General Assembly session ends, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine can name judges to vacant circuit court slots.

Circuit court chief judges, in turn, could fill open bench seats on General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts.

In that scenario those gubernatorial appointments would be good for about one year. Filing the seats for full judicial terms would be back before the General Assembly in the next legislative session.

When asked about the conflict over appointments, Kaine press secretary Gordon Hickey said the governor urges legislators "to do their jobs and he's not going to intrude."

The General Assembly typically reappoints sitting judges early in the session and names new jurists nearer to the end of the legislature's work.

One judge whose reappointment has been held up this session, Norfolk Circuit Judge Chuck Griffith, is also scheduled to have a hearing before the Courts of Justice committees today. Critics have raised concerns about Griffith's time on the bench. He was appointed in 2000.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com