Delays and disbarments

I am pondering something I know very little about, but I think I figured out the delay in the disbarment process. It’s been driving me crazy because this is not the timeline I was initially given. Something must have changed, right? But what?

Well, I went through all the Vermont Bar memos from the last year and, lo and behold, one of the Vermont Supreme Court justices announced her retirement around the same time things started getting dragged out. That part makes sense. She officially retired last month.

Now, an additional justice is going to be retiring in December. So we are either in for a long winter or a hurry-up before he retires.

But wait—there’s more.

So, das Googles has one name and one name only floating right now for the justice position that is currently open.

Now, politics I can play with, but I don’t know the political landscape in Vermont. So I’m doing a lot of guessing and relying on unsupported information. Who knows? They say that not everything on the internet is true.

I didn’t know why the delay. The justice who retired became a judge in 2017, a year after {D}’s first unfortunate scandal that left him unemployed in Vermont. And she was a U.S. Attorney so there doesn't appear to be a connection between them. So I was not sure about the delay, other than they didn’t want to rush it. Timing is timing and, again, they know things I don’t.like this where he represented her https://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca2/11-4990 

Now, here is the question in the whole matter: that one name floating for the next justice? A litigator who has argued numerous cases in front of the Vermont Supreme Court, much like our little friend {D}. That’s going to take more research than I’m willing to put in, but they would have likely been opposing counsel if they know each other. I know {D} did federal too. They were playing on the same field so to speak; I just don’t know how tightly intertwined that would be. So I wonder: friend or foe, or possibly just ships passing in the night? I suppose that is the real question.

Now, this guy has some serious sexual assault chops—workplace, Title IX, VAWA. That’s good. And trauma-informed. So maybe that was the plan. Disbarment dude knows what he is doing. I couldn't have hand picked this dude if I tried. 

Because then we also have the matter of {D} being before all of the remaining justices previously. They know him. He’s a great attorney. That was already a given, though. I know the case he got pulled off of in April when he was terminated had to have raised some eyebrows. Sudden departures don’t go unnoticed, and especially when there is a filing to remove you from the case. Word had to have spread. It’s a small world, after all. And a small fucking state. The legal community seems quite claustrophobic there. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, though.

{D} isn’t the most likable person. Respected, but in my understanding not well liked. And his ousting—twice—from the Vermont state employment rolls might corrode that respect a touch. We are dealing with people who know, at a minimum, his courtroom persona. Could be good or bad. I’ve always said his teeth gleam like a cartoon shark.

Hmmm. So I don’t know what all this means, except I’m going to be closely watching the judicial nominations in Vermont now. New hobby.

I’ve always been such a political snob. I’ve never paid attention to local politics. Who you know and who you blow. {D} still has the platinum-level attorney, so I’m still not getting my hopes up, but I feel a little better having convinced myself I know what’s going on now.

If any politically savvy Vermonters want to give me more insight, contact page, pretty please. I email everyone back. I would love to get some observations from someone with boots on the ground.