Back on June 24, Virginia Senate Democratic leadersd file a lawsuit challenging Governor Youngkin’s and Attorney General Jason Miyares’ “unconstitutional overreach on university Board appointments.” A few weeks later, on July 29, “A Fairfax circuit court ordered eight appointees to three public university governing boards to stop serving on those boards for now, while a legal dispute between Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and a group of Democrats in the state Senate moves forward.” At that time, the AG’s office vowed, “We will quickly file an appeal with the Supreme Court of Virginia and are confident in our position.”
And now they’ve done just that. See below for Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ “Petition for Review,” filed yesterday in the Supreme Court of Virginia, which argues, in short:
- “The circuit court erred in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims when Plaintiffs lack standing and sovereign immunity bars Plaintiffs’ claims.”
- “The circuit court erred in holding that Plaintiffs would more likely than not suffer irreparable harm without the preliminary injunction when it relied on inapposite foreign authorities and acknowledged that Plaintiffs’ alleged injuries are reparable”
- “The circuit court lacked jurisdiction to issue the preliminary”
- “Plaintiffs fail to meet the threshold requirement of irreparable harm”
- “Plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on their constitutional claim”
- “The balance of hardships and public interest weigh against the preliminary injunction”
The petition concludes that “the strong public interest in the orderly governance of public universities and the hardships that would result from disrupting the status quo weigh decisively against a preliminary injunction” and argues, “This Court should grant the petition and vacate the preliminary injunction.”
UPDATE: VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell says, “The Attorney General strangely argues that the General Assembly has been confirming people in the wrong way for the last 100 years including the six years he served in the House of Delegates and never said anything.
