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Library of Virginia
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Processed by: Jim Greve
Case Files are closed until 2045.
Case Files are closed until 2045.
Cynthia D. Kinser Papers, 1997-2014. Accession 51470. Personal Papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Gift of Cynthia D. Kinser, Pennington Gap.
Cynthia Dinah (Fannon) Kinser was born in Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia on 20 December 1951. She attended the Unversity of Tennessee (B.A., 1974) and the University of Virginia (J.D., 1977). She served as a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. She also engaged in private law practice and served as Commonwealth's Attorney for Lee County. Kinser was a bankruptcy trustee and clerked for Judge Glen M. Williams. On 2 May 1997, Kinser was appointed to the Supreme Court of Virginia by Governor George F. Allen to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Roscoe B. Stephenson. She began her service on 8 July 1997. On 30 January 1998, she was elected by the Virginia General Assembly to a 12-year term. On 31 August 2010, Justice Kinser was elected chief justice to succeed Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr. She served as chief justice until her retirement on 31 December 2014.
Papers, 1997-2014, of Cynthia D. Kinser (b. 1951) of Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia, relating to her tenure as justice and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. The collection includes case files, correspondence, subject files, and speeches. The case files are closed until 2045.
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Series I. Case Files. Series II. Correspondence. Series III. Subject Files. Series IV. Speeches.The case files include opinions, concurrences, and dissents written by Kinser. Some of the files also include draft concurrences or dissents that were not used. The case files are closed until 2045.
The correspondence contains mostly copies of outgoing letters. Subjects include acknowledgements, congratulations, appointments and elections, retirements, invitations, recommendations, thank yous, permissions for various individuals to be excused from attending mandatory judicial conferences, and letters concerning adding names of retiring judges to recall lists.
The subject files include information on Kinser's appointment, investiture, and reappointment to the Court, interviews, and legislation and studies relating to the operation and procedures of Virginia's courts, such as appellate rules revisions, court technology, judicial boundary realignment and workload, payee notification, and rules of evidence.
Most of the speeches in the collection are post-2010. They were delivered at ceremonies and meetings of various bar associations, civic groups, and educational institutions. Topics include appellate review and decision-making, indigent criminal defense, court history, and ethics and professionalism. There are also copies of the State of the Judiciary Address. There are two groups of speeches. The first group are arranged chronologically. The second group are undated speeches, and are arranged alphabetically by topic.