By NEIL H. SIMON, Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON - G. Steven Agee, on his path to becoming a federal appeals judge, faced questions yesterday from senators about his membership in a white-only club in Roanoke more than 20 years ago.
Sen. Benjamin L Cardin, D-Md., who presided over the 40-minute questioning asked Agee, "Were you aware the [Shenandoah] club discriminated when you joined the club?"
Agee, currently a justice on the Virginia Supreme Court, said, "I can't recall if I had specific knowledge of that. Certainly, as time went on it seemed more likely than not that that occurred. After some period of time I resigned."
On a 21-page questionnaire prepared for the committee, Agee wrote he was a member of the club from 1980 to 1987 and that it "probably discriminated in fact during the time I was a member."
The Shenandoah club, founded in 1893, only allowed white males before changing policies in 1988, said club manager Beverly Schlegel.
In his testimony, Agee said he resigned from the club for a number of reasons and that "lack of openness to the full community was one of them."
As a Republican state delegate from Salem, Va., Agee said he sponsored legislation to bar judges from being members of discriminatory groups.
With jurisdiction covering South Carolina through Maryland, the Richmond-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has the highest percentage African-American population of any appeals court in the country.
Cardin cited that population in asking about a 1990 Op-Ed column Agee wrote in The Roanoke Times critical of a state employment practice that favored minority job applicants. Agee told the committee his concern was "not so much that the activity was done, but it was done without the knowledge of other parts of government."
Agee was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1982 to 1993.
"I think he can argue that he was a politician protecting the General Assembly's prerogative," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. "I don't think that's going to be a disqualifier."
Cardin, filling in for Judiciary chairman Sen. Pat J. Leahy, D-Vt., said he was impressed with Agee's answer on the affirmative-action question.
On questions about judicial restraint, Agee said it was important to follow judicial precedent "in most all cases." The Virginia Supreme Court overruled lower courts on "very rare cases usually on very narrow points," he said.
President Bush nominated Agee March 13 with bipartisan support from both senators from Virginia. The Judiciary Committee is expected to approve Agee's nomination this year.
The Virginia General Assembly elected Agee to the Virginia Court of Appeals in 2000 and sent him to the state Supreme Court in 2003.
(Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or nsimon@mediageneral.com.)
Sen. Benjamin L Cardin, D-Md., who presided over the 40-minute questioning asked Agee, "Were you aware the [Shenandoah] club discriminated when you joined the club?"
Agee, currently a justice on the Virginia Supreme Court, said, "I can't recall if I had specific knowledge of that. Certainly, as time went on it seemed more likely than not that that occurred. After some period of time I resigned."
On a 21-page questionnaire prepared for the committee, Agee wrote he was a member of the club from 1980 to 1987 and that it "probably discriminated in fact during the time I was a member."
The Shenandoah club, founded in 1893, only allowed white males before changing policies in 1988, said club manager Beverly Schlegel.
In his testimony, Agee said he resigned from the club for a number of reasons and that "lack of openness to the full community was one of them."
As a Republican state delegate from Salem, Va., Agee said he sponsored legislation to bar judges from being members of discriminatory groups.
With jurisdiction covering South Carolina through Maryland, the Richmond-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has the highest percentage African-American population of any appeals court in the country.
Cardin cited that population in asking about a 1990 Op-Ed column Agee wrote in The Roanoke Times critical of a state employment practice that favored minority job applicants. Agee told the committee his concern was "not so much that the activity was done, but it was done without the knowledge of other parts of government."
Agee was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1982 to 1993.
"I think he can argue that he was a politician protecting the General Assembly's prerogative," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. "I don't think that's going to be a disqualifier."
Cardin, filling in for Judiciary chairman Sen. Pat J. Leahy, D-Vt., said he was impressed with Agee's answer on the affirmative-action question.
On questions about judicial restraint, Agee said it was important to follow judicial precedent "in most all cases." The Virginia Supreme Court overruled lower courts on "very rare cases usually on very narrow points," he said.
President Bush nominated Agee March 13 with bipartisan support from both senators from Virginia. The Judiciary Committee is expected to approve Agee's nomination this year.
The Virginia General Assembly elected Agee to the Virginia Court of Appeals in 2000 and sent him to the state Supreme Court in 2003.
(Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or nsimon@mediageneral.com.)