The Supreme Court of Virginia elected its first woman chief justice on Tuesday.

 

Justice Cynthia Kinser will succeed Chief Justice Leroy Hassell, Sr. on Feb. 1. Hassell, the first black chief justice, served two terms and was no longer eligible to serve in the role.

 

Hassel said he is “confident that Chief Justice-elect Kinser will serve the Court as Chief Justice with the highest distinction.”

 

The other justices on the seven-member Supreme Court elected Kinser to her post. As the chief justice, she will oversee the state’s courts and legal system.

 

Kinser resides in Lee county, where she was born. Former Gov. George Allen appointed her to the Supreme Court in 1997. She graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1976 and served one term as the Commonwealth Attorney for Lee County. At the time, she was only the second woman in the state to be elected to that position. She also practiced law at a private firm for 11 years, and started her career as a justice in 1990 as a U.S. magistrate judge.

 

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell congratulated Kinser in a statement, saying, "Justice Kinser has always demonstrated she is a fair minded professional who conducts herself with the utmost integrity and acumen.  I have the highest confidence that she will uphold the rule of law and Constitution of Virginia in her new position as chief administrator of the Supreme Court of Virginia and serve the Commonwealth well."